Characteristics of the acousto-optic interaction in ring lasers

First measurements were made of the efficiency of intracavity acousto-optic diffraction and also of the amplitude and phase nonreciprocities in a solid-state ring laser. A difference was found between the diffraction efficiencies of the intracavity and extracavity interactions. This difference was attributed to deformation of an output mode in intracavity acousto-optic diffraction.