Rex King, Brigham Young University
Engineering
The purpose of this research is to use slab coupled optical sensors (SCOS) to take high voltage measurements at high frequencies. Voltage dividers are currently used to take high voltage measurements. However, these voltage measurements are limited to bandwidths up to the range of 1MHz. SCOS sensors are electric field detectors developed by the BYU optics lab which couple light from a D-shaped fiber into a lithium-niobate slab wave guide. This light couples at certain frequencies and the frequencies at which these resonances occur will shift in proportion to the applied electric field. The electric field measurement can be used to measure voltage.
Several considerations must be taken to design a sensor capable of accurately measuring high voltage frequency pulses. Considerations that must be taken in sensor design are resistance and capacitance of the sensor, how to localize dielectric breakdown at a high voltages, and how the electric field strength varies with frequency. Ignoring any of these factors could result in inaccurate measurements. We will show how a SCOS can be used to accurately measure high voltage pulses up to 2 MV with bandwidths up to 10 GHz.