Abstract

With the example of an alpha-iodic acid crystal, we demonstrate the unusual peculiarities of acousto-optic interaction in gyrotropic biaxial crystals. Basic attention is given to the most interesting cases of anisotropic diffraction in geometry, when the wave vector of ultrasound is directed almost orthogonally to one of the optical axes, and the directions of incident and diffracted light beams are close to the optical axis. It is shown that in this case a peculiar character of optical anisotropy originates unique variants of acousto-optic interaction that are fundamentally impossible in uniaxial crystals. A wide variety of frequency dependences of the Bragg angles allows choosing optimal configurations of crystal cuts for each specific acousto-optic device. The influence of the effect of optical activity on diffraction characteristics is examined as well.

© 2018 Optical Society of America

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