The intensity of light scattered by surface acoustic waves (SAW’s) on internal reflection for fused quartz medium was measured for the geometry where the incident light is perpendicular to the SAW propagation direction. ZnO thin-film interdigital transducers are used for generating SAW on fused quartz substrates. Measurements of the scattered light intensity give excellent agreement with theory. Either s- or p-polarized incident light is scattered by the SAW into s- and p-polarization states. The scattered light is left (right) elliptically polarized if the incident light is s(p)-polarized.