Examination of the temperature influence on phase matching frequency in tunable acousto-optic filters

The temperature effect on the acousto-optic (AO) phase matching condition was examined both theoretically and experimentally on an example of wide-angle acousto-optic filter fabricated from tellurium dioxide crystal. It was shown that the AO crystal temperature variation changes the acoustic wave velocity that is involved into the AO interaction and shifts the phase matching frequency of AO diffraction. The AO phase matching frequency shift temperature coefficient was introduced, characterizing the magnitude of the frequency shift. The examination of frequency shift magnitude was carried for the optical wavelength band from 440 nm to 1.52 µm. It was shown that the temperature coefficient decreases with increasing the optical wavelength. A method was introduced that makes it possible to calculate the temperature shift coefficients for the real AO devices in a wide range of optical wavelengths. The coefficients obtained with the proposed method are in good agreement with the experimental data. Ultrasound attenuation was also examined in the given AO cell. Attenuation caused by the acoustic power absorption is the main mechanism leading to the appearance of the inhomogeneous temperature distribution inside the AO cell during the operation.