Design and testing of a diode-based electric field probe prototype

The paper presents the design and the response measurements of the simple, one-axis diode-based electric field probe, consisting of short dipole, diode detector, low-pass filter, transmission line and monitoring instrument. Frequency response measurement results were compared to the simulation results, where simulation was achieved by a method of combining the numerical FDTD simulation with dipole/diode circuit simulation. The measured results showed good agreement with simulation results in the operational range. Additionally, the measurements of the probe response to amplitude modulated and pulse modulated signals were performed. As expected, the response to the modulated signals showed considerable deviation from the sinusoidal CW response. Measurement error for such signals was calculated and presented.