Acoustic beam splitter for infrared lasers

A method for noninterference sampling of high-power CO
2
laser beams is described. The technique employs an ultrasonic diffraction grating generated in the air path across a laser beam. A very small fraction (
\sim10^{-7}
) of the main beam is diffracted through a small angle (
\sim2\deg
) on either side. Profiles of Gaussian and "donut" modes from low-power CO
2
lasers were obtained with the acoustic beam splitter.