Abstract
Theoretical treatment on the acoustooptic Bragg-diffraction from standing ultrasonic waves in both loss-free and lossy acoustic media is presented. The results include the important parameters of the Standing Wave Ultrasonic Bragg Cell (SUBC) and the predicted performances such as the cross talks of the SUBC as an optical gate for optical multiplexing and demultiplexing in a time-division ultrahigh data rate digital communication system. The ultimate bit rate capability of the acoustooptic multiplexers and demultiplexers has also been determined.