Improvements to the stability of electric field sensors

The measurement of the amplitude and phase of electric fields on high voltage transmission lines is important for several reasons including: a) metering and determination of power flow, b) protective relaying, and c) fault sensing. The work reported here is directed toward a major improvement to optically based, electric-field sensors in LiNbO/sub 3/. This is a signal processing based technique for overcoming the instabilities of conventional, optically-based, electric-field sensors to changes in optical power or temperature.