An isotropic broadband electric field sensor powered by laser photocell for measurement of the electromagnetic pulse (EMP)

Abstract In this paper, a laser powered broadband isotropic pulsed electric field sensor is developed and experimentally demonstrated. The laser powered supply circuit consisting of an energy-supply laser, a laser photovoltaic cell, and a DC-DC conversion circuit is designed and fabricated. Experimental results show that when the laser power supply circuit is working continuously for 12 h, the output voltage fluctuation is ± 0.03 V. The electro-optic (EO) modulation circuit composed of a monopole antenna and an integrated operational amplifier of a field effect transistor is designed and fabricated. Experimental results show that the bandwidth of the sensor is 200 Hz–750 MHz. Experimental results reveal that the linear measurement ranges of the isotropic electric field sensor along the three axes are 1.167 kV m −1 −23.433 kV m −1 , 1.504 kV m −1 −23.759 kV m −1 , and 1.266 kV m −1 −23.354 kV m −1 , respectively. When the electric field strength is 6.316 kV m −1 , 10 .526 kV m −1 , 15 .789 kV m −1 , The RMSE of the measurements are less than 0.195, 0.4991, 0.5518 when the isotropic electric field sensor is rotated 360° in the xoz planes.