Description

Acousto-optic effect is based on the change in the refractive index of a medium due to the presence of sound waves in the medium. This creates a refractive index grating in the material that can be used to diffract light. It provides a powerful means to the control of the frequency, direction, and intensity of a laser beam. Employing acousto-optic effect, acousto-optic devices such as acousto-optic modulator, acousto-optic deflector, and tunable acousto-optic filter have been applied significantly to areas such as laser technology, optical signal processing, and integrated optical communication. This experimental system can be used to conduct the following experiments: 1. Observe Bragg diffraction and measure Bragg diffraction angle 2. Display acousto-optic modulation waveform 3. Observe acousto-optic deflection phenomenon 4. Measure acousto-optic modulation amplitude 5. Measure parameters such as acousto-optic diffraction efficiency and bandwidth 6. Measure the traveling velocity of ultrasound waves in a medium 7. Simulate optical communication using acousto-optic modulation technique