Uncertainty considerations of ultrasonic field mapping by light-diffraction tomography

Ultrasound light diffraction in conjunction with a computer-tomographic evaluation procedure allows ultrasonic fields to be mapped as long as the limits of weak acousto-optic interaction are not exceeded. Beyond these limits, the light-sound interaction is far more complex, and the simplified evaluation based on the Raman-Nath approach will give rise to considerable errors. Two typical idealized sound beam configurations, of a circular and a square sound column, are used for numerically treating the problem. It could be shown that, depending on the light-sound interaction length and the ultrasound frequency, errors of the order of 50% are not rare.