Abstract: A travelling wave acoustooptic switch based on Bragg diffraction was proposed according to the requirement for optical switches used in shock wave and detonation physics experiments. Some important parameters of this acoustooptic switch such as the switch waveform, extinction ratio, light damage threshold and energy availability were experimentally obtained. The results show that compared with electrooptic switches, the acoustooptic switch effectively eliminates the ringing phenomena existing on the top of light switch waveforms, reduces the instrument volume, and improves the working stability. The extinction ratio is about 5000∶1. The light damage threshold of the acoustooptic crystal is larger than 2.26 kW/cm2 and the energy availability of the switch reaches up to 70%. The inherent delay time and rising edge time are 900 ns and 440 ns, respectively, which meet the synchronism requirement of the measuring system. In addition, the duration of the switching time can be easily changed by the trigger signal to meet different test demands.