Acousto-optic materials and acousto-optic cell applications

A review of physical properties of the materials used in manufacturing real acousto-optic cells for optical and RF signal processing is presented. The overall design of acousto-optic cells requires the knowledge of not only the elastic modulii of the second order, but those of higher orders also, as they determine the acoustic nonlinearity and the dynamic range of any device. The parameters of elastic anisotropy determine the near zone of cell's transducer and directly affect cell's time aperture and number of resolvable spots, and interchannel cross-talks in multichannel devices. The requirements to the properties of crystal materials used in cells with anisotropic and collinear interaction are discussed.