Rotation of the Plane of Polarization of Optical Radiation Caused by the Addition of Two Elliptically Polarized Waves Controlled by Sound

Herein is proposed a method for controlled rotation of the plane of polarization of linearly polarized radiation based on the addition of two mutually orthogonal elliptically polarized waves, the parameters of which are controlled by an acoustic wave in the process of acousto-optical (AO) Bragg diffraction. It has been shown theoretically that the angle of polarization rotation depends on the ellipticity of the beams and does not depend on the wavelength of the light. The maximum polarization rotation is determined by the ellipticity of the combined waves and can reach approximately 45°. Experiments on controlling the polarization rotation of optical radiation with a wavelength of 0.63 μm, performed on the basis of an AO cell made of a paratellurite crystal, confirmed the main theoretical conclusions.