Kerr electro-optic measurements of nonuniform axisymmetric electric field distributions using point-plane electrodes

Recently we showed that Kerr electro-optic measurements can determine axisymmetric electric field distributions with changing magnitude and direction along the light path. This requires measurement of only two independent "characteristic parameters" from which the electric field magnitude and direction is determined using the "onion-peeling" method. In this paper, we present a set of Kerr effect measurements in transformer oil using the AC modulation method in point-plane electrode geometry. The needle we use approximates a hyperboloid of revolution so that the Laplacian electric field is known analytically. Measurements are compared to the analytical results that are predicted by Laplacian solutions. The onion peeling method is employed to recover the electric field.