Resonant acousto-optic effects in InP and GaAs and related devices

A comparative study of the acoustooptic properties of InP and GaAs is presented here in resonance conditions, i.e., for photon energies close to the band gap E_g. No experimental determination of such properties has been performed before for light wavelengths shorter than 1.06 μm because of the drawback caused by the optical absorption in these direct gap semiconductors. The acoustooptical properties displayed by GaAs and InP are very striking and their figures of merit are so high in resonance conditions that very promising applications can be expected in the field of laser beam modulation and deflexion as shown here. The measurements of the whole set of photoelastic constants as a function of the photon energies allowed a precise determination of all the crystal deformation potentials