Optical measurement of non-uniform electric field vector distribution in a dielectric liquid using triplet measurement system

We have carried out measurements of three-dimensional nonuniform electric field distribution using Kerr electrooptic measurement with a reconstruction technique. A conventional measurement system was composed of He-Ne laser, a polarizer, a quarter-wave plate, an experimental cell, an analyzer, and a photo-detector. For the measurement of an electric field vector distribution, it was necessary to measure light intensity with changing the optical axis of optical wedges, i.e., the polarizer, the quarter-wave plate and the analyzer. Moreover, the intensity measurement must be carried out at many points from /spl theta/ = 0 to /spl pi/ around the electrode system. Therefore it took considerable time to measure the electric field distribution. We have improved the measurement system by a cell with six optical windows and three optical systems. Using the improved measuring system, it was possible to measure the non-uniform electric field vector distribution faster.