Analysis of serial versus simultaneous XY acoustooptic deflectors

Abstract

Acoustooptic Deflection in two transverse directions (x & y) can be implemented in two ways: 1) serially in which the light passes first through an AO deflector for one direction (x) and then through an AO deflector for the other direction (y) or 2) simultaneously, where acoustic waves induce diffraction in both transverse directions in the same interaction volume. This paper presents comparative analyses and results for the two cases. The first case involves two a two mode (beam) coupled interaction involving deflection in a first direction (x) followed by a pair two mode (beam) coupled interactions involving deflection in the second direction (y); the second case involves one four mode (beam) coupled interaction involving deflections in x and y simultaneously. The interactions considered are Bragg regime with independent arbitrary drive levels in the X and Y directions. The results obtained show that the four output beam intensities I (00), I (10), I (01), I (11), have precisely the same behavior in the two cases, provided that the undeflected beam from the first serial interaction proceeds undisturbed to the second serial interaction. Importantly, the key doubly deflected intensity I (11) is the same in all these cases.