MULTISTABILITY IN AN ACOUSTOOPTICAL SYSTE M WITH A FREQUENCY FEEDBACK

An investigation was made of an acousto-optical system with hybrid fee dback used to control the frequency of ultrasonic waves excited in an acousto-optical cell. An amplitude transparency, placed in front of a photodetector, ensured a nonlinear dependence of the intensity of the diffracted radiation reaching the detector on the ultrasound frequency . Conditions were found under which this nonlinearity gave rise to mul tistable states differing in respect of the amplitude, frequency, and direction of propagation of the diffracted beam. An analysis was made of various uses of such a system as an optical channel switch and in s tabilisation of the direction of propagation of a light beam.