A METHOD FOR VECTOR MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRIC FIELDS AND CORRESPONDING APPARATUS

摘要

A method for measuring an electric field, comprising, a) generating a circularly polarized radiation beam; b) sending the radiation beam through a non-linear optical material (40) able to show a variation of optical birefringence induced by an electric field to be measured; c) separating the radiation beam emerging from the nonlinear optical material (40) into four linearly polarized components; d) detecting the respective light intensities related to the four components; e) measuring fluctuations of the light intensities related to the four components induced by the electric field; and f) determining modulus and direction of the electric field based on the measured fluctuations related to the four components of the radiation beam.