High efficiency LWIR AOTF

We have developed and fabricated a Tl3AsSe3 (TAS) crystal based acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) for operation between the 8 to 12.0 μm wavelength regions. We have demonstrated peak efficiency greater than 60% with a 10.6 μm source and 2 watts of RF input power. This high efficiency should enable high resolution and large throuput for AOTF based imaging and spectroscopic systems.