Laser Reading of Radio Signals from Surface Acoustic Wave Devices

Optoelectronic circuits for reading radio signals from surface acoustic wave delay lines are considered, in which the second reading interdigital transducer is replaced by a surface acoustic wave laser probing circuit with a phase diffraction grating. Examples and a method for calculating the signal amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio at the output of the laser readout channel at different circuit parameters are proposed. The experimental results on reading pulsed radio signals with microsecond lengths are reported. Features of the laser reading method are noted, which include the possibility of smooth tuning of the output signal delay time relative to the input signal and eliminating the reflection of a surface wave from the reading interdigital transducer.