Lasers are quite effective in generating ultrasound, but until recently, laser ultrasonic receivers were not as sensitive as required. Most laser ultrasonic receivers use an interferometer for detection. Conventional interferometers suffer from loss of performance because they can not process speckled beams from rough surfaces. They also require exact path length matching for linear signal detection. In this talk, we will describe a new family of compensated interferometers based using photorefractive crystals as real-time holograms or as adaptive photodetectors. These receivers require no path-length stabilization and can process speckled beams with no loss in signal-to-noise. They can also compensate for dynamic wavefront distortions due to mechanical vibrations or turbulence in the propagation path. We will describe the operating principles of these receivers and present data on their use in a variety of applications.