Spectral characteristics of non-collinear acousto-optic tunable filters

The bandpass width and the diffraction efficiency of a non-collinear acousto-optic tunable filter are considered as functions of the optical wavelength for fixed values of the direction of propagation of the optic wave, the length of the acousto-optic interaction and the power density of the controlling RF-signal. A comparison between the calculated and the experimentally measured spectral dependencies is discussed and illustrated from the viewpoint of practical application for a TeO2 filter. It is shown that in the approximation used, satisfactory agreement can be achieved between the experimental and calculated dependencies. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.