Nonreciprocal acousto-optic interactions and their application to feedback isolation in the infrared region

The acousto-optic isolator is a concept developed to provide nonreciprocal isolation between stages in a master oscillator/power amplifier chain. The principles of operation of an acousto-optic isolator are examined and the unperturbed oscillator frequency is considered. The effect of feedback is investigated and a description is given of a number of acousto-optic isolator experiments. The experiment show that the isolation achieved is a function of the acoustic power supplied to the isolator and the acoustic frequency.