Acousto-Optical Diffraction of Terahertz Radiation Using a Sectioned Ultrasound Transducer

To increase the operating frequency bandwidth of the acousto-optic deflector, it is proposed to use a sectioned ultrasound transducer with a gap width between the sections of $25 %$ of the section length. A series of experiments to investigate acousto-optic diffraction of terahertz radiation with such transducer was performed. It was found that at zero-phase signal feeding to the neighboring sections of the transducer the operating frequency bandwidth of ultrasound increased 1.5 times in comparison with the non-sectioned transducer, and the operating range of angles of incidence of radiation increased 2 times, while the diffraction efficiency decreased by $20 %$. The use of the anti-phase mode of signal supply to the neighboring sections allowed to increase the diffraction efficiency by 2 times in comparison with the in-phase mode, while the operating range of radiation incidence angles did not change.