title: Photoelastic and acousto-optical properties of Cs2HgCl4 crystals.
abstract: We use a Mach-Zehdner interferometric technique to study the piezo-optical properties of Cs2HgCl4 crystals at room temperature. All piezo-optical (pi(mn)) and photoelastic (p(in)) tensor constants are obtained. A substantial photoelastic effect and low ultrasonic velocities in these crystals determine a relatively high figure of merit M2 for isotropic diffraction (for a certain geometry of acousto-optical interactions, M2 approximately 110 x 10(-15) s3/kg). The new material may be considered, therefore, a candidate for applications in acousto-optical devices. The dependence of the acoustic walk-off angle on the direction of sound propagation is calculated for the principal crystallographic planes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Optics, L'viv, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Mykola V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kaidan
authors.forename: Anna V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Zadorozhna
authors.forename: Anatolij S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Andrushchak
authors.forename: Andriy V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kityk