Diffraction of light by an acoustic wave with three frequency components

Collinear light diffraction by three-frequency sound is investigated theoretically. The amplitude distributions of transmitted and diffracted light waves along the cell are calculated for different amplitudes of sound signals. The dependence of the intensity of principal diffraction peaks on the frequency difference between acoustic signal components is studied for different amplitude ratios of these components. It is shown that the character of this dependence for a wave being in synchronism differs substantially from that for two other waves characterized by detuning. The dependence of the amplitudes of principal and parasitic diffraction peaks on the efficiency of acoustooptical interaction is investigated. It is demonstrated that parasitic sideband components in diffracted light can play a considerable role if the diffraction efficiency is sufficiently high and exceeds 80%.