Patent ID: 6144482
Filing Date: 2000-11-07
Classification: G02F

Abstract:
An acousto-optic polychromatic light modulator comprising:an acousto-optic medium having a substantially planar entrance face upon which a polychromatic light beam, which has any arbitrary polarization or is unpolarized, is incident in a direction orthogonal to said substantially planar entrance face, such that regardless of polarization of said incident polychromatic light beam, any and all polarization components thereof will continue to travel along said direction through said acousto-optic medium;an electro-acoustic transducer coupled to said acousto-optic medium and being operative to convert electrical signals supplied thereto into acoustic waves launched into said acousto-optic medium for interaction with said polychromatic input light beam incident upon said substantially planar entrance face and traveling through said acousto-optic medium;an electronic driver which is coupled to said electro-acoustic transducer and is operative to generate electrical signals containing at least one pair of RF frequencies, a respective pair of RF frequencies being operative to cause said acoustic waves launched into said acousto-optic medium to interact with said polychromatic input light beam and extract therefrom respective +1 and -1 order beam components of a selected wavelength contained within said polychromatic input light beam; anda beam combiner disposed in the path of said respective +1 and -1 order beam components and being operative to recombine +1 and -1 order beam components extracted by said acousto-optic medium into a single composite beam containing said at least one selected light wavelength.