Kerr electro-optic measurements of space charge effects in high voltage pulsed propylene carbonate using parallel-plate electrodes

The Kerr electro-optic field mapping technique has been used to study space charge effects in high voltage pulsed propylene carbonate (C/sub 4/H/sub 6/O/sub 3/) using stainless steel parallel-plate electrodes. Measurements presented here were taken using a circular polariscope with aligned polarizers at room temperature (T/spl sim/20/spl deg/C) with average initial electric field strengths of E/sub 0//spl sim/52 kV/cm and for measurement times ranging from 10 /spl mu/s to 1 ms. The light intensity pictures were analyzed along a line in the center of the electrode gap. From the light intensity distribution the electric field and space charge were calculated as a function of position and time. The calculated space charge distributions show both positive and negative charge injections from the electrodes as well as bulk charge dissociation.