Abstract

Optical depolarization resulting from the interaction with a surface acoustic wave (SAW) has been investigated for conditions where the acoustic beam is not in the optical plane of incidence. Contributions to the scattered optical field include the corrugation of the surface and the elastooptic effect at the surface in the case where the SAW propagates in fused silica and the optical wave propagates in air. The depolarization is investigated as a function of the optical incident angle θfor −90 < θ <90° and as a function of the acoustic out-of-plane angle φ,for 0 < φ <90°. Four initial-to-final polarization states are studied, S to S, P to P, Sto P, and P to S. Scattering cross sections for 0 < K/k <0.1 (where K and k are the acoustical and optical wavenumbers, respectively) are generated and discussed. Functional relationships between the surface corrugation and the elastooptic effect are also evaluated with regard to their contributions to the scattered field. A Jones matrix describing the four polarization states is defined. From this, a Stokes matrix is developed and evaluated with respect to the scattering cross-sectional values.

© 1988 Optical Society of America