Explorative Study on a Novel Ellipsometry Detection Method for Space Charge Inside Solid Insulation: Towards High Temporal and Spatial Resolutions

The resolution performance of space charge measurement method determines its application environment and measured information, which has put forward higher temporal and spatial resolution requirements for the charge evaluation of electronic equipment insulation. Based on the ellipsometry detection principle and the photoelastic effect of the sensor, a novel optical method for space charge measurement is proposed. The potentials of the method in terms of single measurement with high signal-to-noise ratio, terahertz bandwidth and nanometer spatial resolution are analyzed. By deriving the mathematical relationship of the signal transmission, it is indicated that the light intensity difference measured by the system can linearly present the elastic force generated from space charge. Based on the built ellipsometry detection system, it is found that the detected signal from the sensor can quickly track the imposed elastic waves with different amplitudes and frequencies, which verifies the feasibility of the crucial detection part and the fast measurement speed of the proposed method. Further simulation results indicate that the refractivity performance of the sensor under the effect of elastic waves can present the deformation variation with a spatial resolution of 2 nm. Therefore, the given explorative research can provide the key theoretical basis and experimental verification for the proposed method.