Light diffraction by ultrasound: near field investigation

Abstract

Light diffraction by ultrasonic waves has been studied for many years, however we still can not say that the phenomenon has been examined completely. During the last decade the near field investigations received a particular attention. The new results obtained, both in the near field and in the far field of ultrasonically difracted light, forced us not only to change our point of view concerning this phenomenon but also to modify the formulas describing it. A brief review is given of some of the results which have been obtained up until now, both theoretical and experimental ones. Some new theoretical suggestions, based on the N-th order approximation (NOA) method are presented.