An apparatus for operating an acoustooptical component (1) in order to influence light passing through, in particular in order to influence the illumination light and/or the detection light in the beam path of a microscope, preferably a confocal laser scanning microscope, having a radio-frequency generator (9) for supplying a radio frequency to the acoustooptical component (1), is characterized in that malfunctions of the acoustooptical component (1) which result from temperature fluctuations can be compensated for by adaptation of the radio frequency. A corresponding method and uses are also specified.