3D power frequency intensive electric field sensor based on a lithium niobate electro-optic crystal

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Accurate measurement of power frequency intensive electric fields in any direction is crucial for various applications.
• Existing three-dimensional (3D) electric field sensors often suffer from large device volumes.
• Lithium niobate (LN) crystals offer unique electro-optic properties suitable for electric field sensing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a compact and convenient 3D intensive electric field sensor.
• To enable measurement of electric fields in any spatial direction.
• To utilize an all-dielectric structure based on lithium niobate crystals.

Main Methods:

• Designed and fabricated a 3D sensor using a regular triangular prism structure.
• Integrated three one-dimensional (1D) electric field sensors onto the prism sides.
• Oriented the z-axes of the 1D sensors at 54.7° to the prism edges for perpendicular detection directions.

Main Results:

• Achieved significantly reduced overall device volume compared to existing 3D sensors.
• Demonstrated linear measurement ranges of 3.71–388 kV/m, 2.78–403 kV/m, and 4.50–375 kV/m along the three axes.
• Exhibited a measurement error of less than 4.97% at 82.05 kV/m during 360° rotation in yoz and xoy planes.

Conclusions:

• The developed LN crystal-based 3D electric field sensor provides a compact and effective solution for omnidirectional electric field measurement.
• The unique prism-based design with precisely oriented 1D sensors enables accurate and wide-range electric field detection.
• This sensor technology holds promise for applications requiring precise spatial electric field characterization.