Study of characteristics of noncollinear acousto-optic tunable filters

Characteristics of noncollinear acousto-optic tunable filters are discussed theoretically and experimentally. Prototype of such a filter based on tellurium dioxide is designed and investigated as example. The effect of three parameters (direction of propagation of the optic wave, length of acoustooptic interaction and power density of controlling RF-signal) on filter's characteristics is discussed and illustrated from the viewpoint of practical application. Calculated filter tuning curve, bandpass width, and diffraction efficiency are compared with those measured experimentally It is shown that in the approximation used a satisfactory agreement can be achieved between experimental and calculated dependencies of noncollinear acousto-optic tunable filters.