Investigation of the frequency characteristic of an acoustooptic modulator

Two new methods for determining the amplitude-frequency characteristics of an acoustooptic modulator are considered. One of these methods is related to determination of the second harmonic of the diffracted radiation. A simplified expression is obtained for the amplitude-frequency characteristic and this expression makes it much easier to calculate and compare the characteristics of modulators of different types. A comparison is made of the characteristic of a modulator constructed in the traditional way with the characteristic obtained by recording part of the energy of the diffracted beam at the second harmonic of the modulation frequency. The reported experimental results are in agreement with the theoretical conclusions.