Abstract

A fundamental limit for the dynamic range of acoustooptic signal processors is the generation of intermodulation products (IMPs) in Bragg cells when multiple signals are present. The most significant IMPs for two simultaneous signals at f₁ and f₂ are the third-order terms at frequencies 2f₁−f₂ and 2f₂−f₁ Based on the theoretical and experimental work performed previously, it was established that the two physical processes of IMPs generation are the multiple AO diffraction¹ and nonlinear acoustic mixing.² The latter process can be significantly suppressed by using longer interaction length in biréfringent or phased array Bragg cells.

© 1986 Optical Society of America