ABOUT

This site is developed by collaborators from Physics Department of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University and Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (Technical University) as a result of execution of the Russian Basic Research Foundation Grants № 01-07-90448 and № 02-07-90448. Working out the site, we pursued several goals.

First, we saw our task in putting at disposal of specialists, working in the field of acousto-optics and optical information processing, sufficiently complete information on properties of acousto-optic materials as well as on publications concerning acousto-optic subjects. In accordance with this aim, we present in this site a database on optical, acoustic and acousto-optic properties of more than 20 crystals that are employed presently most widely in acousto-optic devices. The voluminous list of publications contains more than 1200 items sorted by authors, years of publication and themes.

Second, we wanted to familiarize specialists, dealing with optoelectronic instruments, with functional possibilities of basic acousto-optic devices, such as light modulators, laser beam deflectors and tunable filters. Entering a corresponding section of the site and specifying required parameters of a device, the user can obtain variants of the device realization on basis of different acousto-optic materials and different crystal cuts. Every section related to a concrete device is prefaced with short information on the principle of operation of the device and its basic characteristics.

A separate section,intended for those specialists who are not acquainted at all with the acousto-optic effect, contains brief information on this effect and its peculiarities in different media and regimes. For Russian-language guests of the site, an electronic version of the monograph "Physical principles of acousto-optics" by V.I.Balakshy, V.N.Parygin and L.E.Chirkov which is presented in the site can be of special interest because this book remains up to now the most complete Russian monograph devoted to the acousto-optic effect and its applications for optical radiation control. The translation of the monograph into electronic language is fulfilled by I.N.Zhmakin; the authors of the site gratefully acknowledge him for this titanic work.