Abstract

The acoustically driven elastooptic effect at the boundary of a surface corrugation is observed by means of the scattered optical field. A physical model of the elastooptic interaction is developed for different materials and several optical and acoustical frequency combinations. An optical analog matrix is used to evaluate the elastooptic coupling effect on the depolarized scattered optical field in coplanar and noncoplanar acoustooptic conditions. In this analysis, the acoustic-to-optical wave-number ratio was compared to the elastooptic scattered field amplitude and polarization state. The significance of the elastooptic contribution as a function of wave-number ratio is shown to be greater for ratios that approach unity in coplanar conditions. However, the depolarization of the noncoplanar scattered field indicates a complementary effect occurring between polarization state coupling is also significant.

© 1989 Optical Society of America