RF phase modulation technique for performing acousto-optic intensity modulation of an optical wavefront

1. An acousto-optic modulator, comprising:

an acousto-optic bulk medium;

a transducer attached to said acousto-optic bulk medium and comprising a linear array of electrodes; and

a transducer driver connected to each electrode and comprising a plurality of amplifiers connected to the electrodes such that a respective amplifier connected to a respective electrode can set the phase and amplitude of the waveform imparted to that electrode driven by a respective single amplifier to alter the angular momentum distribution of an acoustic field and alternately allow and inhibit phase matching between the optical and acoustic field and produce a desired intensity modulation of an optical wavefront.

2. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 1 , wherein said transducer driver is connected to said electrodes such that alternate electrodes in the linear array of electrodes are driven out-of-phase.

3. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 2 , wherein said linear array of electrodes are configured to be driven in one of an interdigitated and non-interdigitated configuration.

4. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 1 , wherein each amplifier comprises a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC).

5. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 1 , wherein said transducer driver further comprises a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) circuit that imparts the proper phasing to the respective electrode elements to both inhibit and enable phase matching between the incident optical field and the applied acoustic field.

6. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 5 , wherein said DDS circuit further comprises a phase accumulator and one or more memory modules.

7. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 6 , wherein said phase accumulator comprises a complex programmable logic device.

8. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 5 , and further comprising a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) connected to said memory and each amplifier.

9. An acousto-optic modulator comprising:

a transducer driver;

a linear array of electrodes; and

a plurality of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers connected to the electrodes, and operative for configuring the phase and amplitude of the waveform imparted to each electrode driven by a respective single MMIC amplifier to alter the angular momentum distribution of an acoustic field and alternately allow and inhibit phase matching between the optical and acoustic field and produce a desired intensity modulation of an optical wavefront.

10. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 9 , wherein said transducer driver is connected to said electrodes such that alternate electrodes in the linear array of electrodes are driven out-of-phase.

11. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 9 , wherein said linear array of electrodes are configured to be driven in one of an interdigitated and non-interdigitated configuration.

12. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 9 , and further comprising a plurality of piezoelectric platelet segments that carry respective alternating phases of adjacent electrodes.

13. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 12 , wherein said drive controller further comprises a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) circuit connected to each MMIC amplifier.

14. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 13 , wherein said DDS circuit comprises a phase accumulator and memory.

15. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 14 , wherein said phase accumulator comprises a complex programmable logic device.

16. The acousto-optic modulator according to claim 14 , and further comprising a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) connected to said memory and each amplifier.

17. A method of modulating light, which comprises:

oscillating a piezoelectric transducer formed as linear array of electrodes attached to an acousto-optic bulk medium; and

coherently phase driving each electrode using a plurality of amplifiers connected to the electrodes such that a respective amplifier connected to a respective electrode can set the phase and amplitude of the wafeform imparted to that electrode such that each respective electrode is coherently phase driven by a respective single amplifier for altering the angular momentum distribution of an acoustic field and alternately allowing and inhibiting phase matching between the optical and acoustic field and producing a desired intensity modulation of an optical wavefront.

18. The method according to claim 17 , which further comprises driving out-of-phase alternate electrodes within the linear array of electrodes.

19. The method according to claim 18 , which further comprises driving the electrodes in one of an interdigitated and non-interdigitated configuration.

20. The method according to claim 17 , which further comprises phase driving each electrode through a plurality of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers.

21. The method according to claim 20 , which further comprises controlling the MMIC amplifiers using a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) circuit connected to each MMIC amplifier.