Simultaneous Rayleigh and shear wave generation has been achieved using interdigital transducers on ayzLiNbO3sample at a frequency of 104 MHz. A large‐diameter laser beam of 5145‐Å wavelength and 1‐W cw power was transmitted through the sample and was modulated by two acoustic waves. The double‐modulated laser beam causes fringes at the recording plane, which were used for an accurate determination of the shear wave velocityvsand of the shear wave acoustic radiation angle &agr; into the crystal. It was found thatvs= 3.547 ×103m/sec for &agr; = 14.3°. The shear wave conversion loss of the transducer was approximately 6 dB.