Intense transient electric field measurements are widely applied in various research areas. An optical intense E-field sensor for time-domain measurements, based on the electro-optic effect of lithium niobate, has been studied in detail. Principles and key issues in the design of the sensor are presented. The sensor is insulated, small in size (65 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm), and suitable for high-intensity (<801 kV/m) electric field measurements over a wide frequency band (10 Hz–10 MHz). The input/output characteristics of the sensor were obtained and the sensor calibrated. Finally, an application using this sensor in testing laboratory lightning impulses and in measuring transient electric fields during switch-on of a disconnector confirmed that the sensor is expected to find widespread use in transient intense electric field measurement applications.

Voltage measurement is essential in many fields like power grids, telecommunications, metallurgy, railways, and oil production. A voltage-sensing unit, consisting of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and piezoelectric ceramics, based on which an optical over-voltage sensor was proposed and fabricated in this paper. No demodulation devices like spectrometer or Fabry-Perot filter were needed to gain the voltage signal, and a relatively large sensing frequency range was acquired in this paper; thus, the cost of the sensing system is more acceptable in engineering application. The voltage to be measured was directly applied to the piezoelectric ceramic, and deformation of the ceramics and the grating would be caused because of the inverse piezoelectric effect. With a reference grating, the output light intensity change will be caused by the FBG center wavelength change; thus, the relationship between the applied voltage and the output light intensity was established. Validation of the sensor was accomplished in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 20 kHz and switching impulse waves with a test platform; good linearity of the input-output characteristic was achieved. A temperature validation test was completed, showing that the sensor maintains good temperature stability. Experimental results show that the optical over-voltage sensor can be used for voltage monitoring, and if applied with a voltage divider, the sensor can be used to measure high voltage.

Voltage sensors based on the Pockels electro-optic effect in LiNbO 3 crystals have been applied to practical engineering measurements because of their passive nature, wide operating bands, and low transmission loss. However, the temperature of the measurement environment can greatly affect the dynamic responses of these sensors because the natural birefringence of a single LiNbO 3 crystal voltage sensor (SVS) is related to its temperature. To improve the stability of this sensor over a wide temperature range, a double crystal compensation method is introduced in this paper to compensate for the natural birefringence of the SVS. A double LiNbO 3 crystal voltage sensor (DVS) was fabricated, and its working point drift characteristics and amplitude-frequency response were investigated over the temperature range from 0 • C to 50• C. The effects of two intrinsic parameters of the LiNbO 3 crystal were also investigated. Comparison between an existing SVS and the proposed DVS showed that the DVS resisted environmental temperature fluctuations more strongly. C 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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