The effect of acoustic diffraction and acoustic attenuation on the dynamic range of acoustooptic Bragg cells.

A three-dimensional model for the propagation of finite acoustic waves in nonlinear media is developed. This model implicitly includes the effects of acoustic attenuation and divergence due to diffraction. The generation of intermodulation products in the case of a two-tone input signal is numerically analyzed. It is found that acoustic diffraction can have a significant effect on the dynamic range of a Bragg cell if the acoustic field extends well into the Fraunhofer region. Inclusion of the effect of diffraction in the model predicts a dynamic range that can be considerably larger than the value obtained by using the infinite plane wave assumption. It is shown that acoustic attenuation significantly reduces the level of the acoustic intermodulation products relative to the level of the fundamental modes. This also increases the dynamic range. The influence of these effects on design considerations for Bragg cells is discussed.