Integrated Photonic Electric Field Sensor Operating More Than 26 GHz

• Published in: IEEE microwave and wireless components letters 2020-10, Vol.30 (10), p.1009-1012
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jiahong, Chen, Fushen, Liu, Bin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplitudes; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Broadband; Electric field sensor; Electric fields; electro-optic (EO) modulation; Electrooptical waveguides; integrated optical waveguide; Light beams; Lithium niobates; Mach-Zehnder interferometers; microwave photonics; Optical device fabrication; Optical interferometry; Optical polarization; Optical sensors; Optical waveguides; Photonics; Sensor arrays; Sensors
• ISSN: 1531-1309; 2771-957X; 1558-1764; 2771-9588
• DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2020.3019448

An integrated photonic electric field sensor comprised of a tapered antenna array and an optical waveguide asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) has been fabricated and experimentally demonstrated. The tapered antenna array is fabricated across the MZI for a broadband receiving of the electromagnetic (EM) wave. The phase of the light beam traveling in the optical waveguide therefore changes based on the electro-optic (EO) effect of the LiNbO 3 (LN) crystal, and so does the amplitude of the output end of the MZI. The packaged sensor is only 55\times 15\times 10 mm 3 in size. Experimental results reveal that the response deviation of the sensor is within ±10 dB from 100 kHz to 26.5 GHz. Moreover, the minimum detectable electric field of the sensor is 245 mV/m, and the intense nanosecond EM pulse (EMP) with peak amplitude of 25 kV/m has been detected in the time domain.