Photonic Electric-Field Sensor Utilizing an Asymmetric Ti:LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with a Dipole Antenna

Abstract

The use of an asymmetric Ti:LiNbO3 MachZehnder interferometer with a dipole antenna to measure an electric-field strength is described in this article. The device has a small size of 46 x 7 x 1 mm and operates at a wavelength of 1.3 mu m. The AC output characteristics show the modulation depth of similar to 75% at Vp voltage of similar to 5.3 V. The minimum detectable electric fields are similar to 0.28 V/m and similar to 0.646 V/m, corresponding to a dynamic range of about similar to 32 dB and similar to 26 dB at frequencies 20 MHz and 50 MHz, respectively. The sensors exhibit an almost linear response for the applied electric-field intensity from 0.298 V/m to 29.84 V/m.