Fast optical measurement of nonuniform electric field vector mapping in a dielectric liquid

We have been carried out the measurement of three-dimensional nonuniform electric field distributions using Kerr electrooptic measurement with a reconstruction technique. A conventional optical system was composed of a He-Ne laser, a polarizer, a quarter-wave plate, an experimental cell, an analyzer, and a photo-detector. For the measurement of a field vector by the system, it was necessary to measure light intensity twice with changing the optical axis of three optical wedges, i.e., the polarizer, the quarter-wave plate and the analyzer. Therefore it took considerable time to measure the electric field distribution. So, we improved the optical system. For the improvement, new expression of the relationship between measured light intensity and a phase shift due to Kerr effect was derived. The optical system improved made it possible that the electric field distribution was measured faster. The measured distributions were compared with the theoretical ones calculated by analytical method, and they corresponded well.