How exactly does a PCAOM work ?

[Diachi]

Just wondering, as I have my PCAOM sitting on my desk , how exactly it works. It just looks like a crystal and some wires, so how does it actually blank the beam of my laser ?

thanks,

-Adam

[trwalters001]

When the "blank" signal is applied to the crystal, its index of refraction changes. When that happens, the beam is deflected away from the AOM's output aperture, effectively blanking the beam.

You asked about PCAOM, which is poly-chromatic. Color selection works the same way. The input beam is split up into separate colors. By deflecting at different amounts, different colors can be chosen.

[Diachi]

Thats pretty simple compared to what I thought it would be I thought it would involve some sort of magic fairy dust or something

thanks,

-Adam

[trwalters001]

The only magic dust I've seen comes from Spec's robes as he floats through a room...

[Diachi]

The only magic dust I've seen comes from Spec's robes as he floats through a room...

Need to collect some of that dust, and make some sort of super awesome laser from it

[thesk8nmidget]

PFM is how it works! PFM

[Diachi]

PFM is how it works! PFM

I'm pretty sure a lot of laser related stuff is PFM

[stanwax]

Its not quite as simple as suggested

First off the blank signal is NOT applied to the crystal, its applied to a driver circuit which is a device that modulates an RF output signal in respose to the modulation. In a PCAOM the driver creates RF at a number of different frequencies that will affect different wavelegnths.
The RF is fed to a Piezo device bonded to the crystal which sets up an acoustic wave in the crystal as the RF itself is modulated to corespond to the input. Its this wave that diffracts the light, and the amplitude of the wave will affect howe much of the light is diffracted allowing fast and very smooth anaolgue modulation. Different frequency waves from a PCAOM driver will therefore allow modulation of different wavelengths.

Rob

[buffo]

To expand on what Rob wrote:

The crystal assembly is essentially a transducer. It converts the RF energy from the driver into sonic vibrations (that is, sound waves) in the crystal. When everything is tuned correctly, these vibrations produce a standing wave in the crystal. This standing wave creates areas of slightly higher density that are very close to areas of slightly lower density (node and anti-node) due to physical deformation of the crystal at the molecular level. These slight density changes effectively create a diffraction grating inside the crystal, and this is what causes the light to bend ever so slightly so that it misses the exit aperture.

Adam

[trwalters001]

Sorry Y'all...
I was just giving the Cliff-notes version,