Optical antennas for a complete electric field characterization

We here present the last developments concerning the electric field characterization using pigtailed electro-optic (EO) sensors. Based on the Pockels´ effect, these optical antennas permit to sense the actual temporal profile of the 3 components of the electric field vector. The frequency response of this technique spreads over nine decades of frequency and the measurement dynamics is greater than 120 dB. Moreover, the transducer is dielectric, its size lies in the centimeter range and the optical antenna is separated from the data acquisition thanks to a fiber link. These properties lead to very low disturbance of the field to be measured. Thus, application such near field mapping or in-situ intense field analysis (up to electrical breakdown) can be considered.