An acousto-optic deflector (AOD) is a device that uses the interaction between sound waves and light waves to deflect or redirect a laser beam.
In both an AOM and an AOD, the amplitude and frequency of different orders are adjusted as light is diffracted.
In the operation of an acousto-optic deflector the power driving the acoustic transducer is kept on, at a constant level, while the acoustic frequency is varied to deflect the beam to different angular positions.
AOM technology has made Bose–Einstein condensation practical, for which the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl E.
[2] Another application of acoustic-optical deflection is optical trapping of small molecules.