Validation of electro-optic sensors for measurement of DC fields in the presence of space charge

The paper presents theoretical analysis and experimental verification of an electro-optic sensor for measurements of DC electric fields in space charge environment. Effects of both unipolar and bipolar charge were investigated. It was shown that in both cases the sensor output is linearly dependent on the intensity of measured electric field and independent of the space charge density. The achieved measurement resolution is 100 V/m with a dynamic range of 80 dB and a temperature stability of 0.1%/°C for temperatures near 20 °C.