Optical DC electric field sensing based on the Pockels effect using bismuth germanate crystals

The measurement of DC electric fields faces problems such as space charge accumulation and difficulties in distinguishing the DC signal from the output signal. Therefore, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, optical electric field sensor based on the Pockels effect is proposed to measure DC electric fields using a rotating bismuth germanate crystal. Theoretical derivation and signal optimization are performed to eliminate the influence of space charge accumulation on the DC electric field measurement. The measurement results show that the proposed optical electric-field sensor is suitable for the accurate measurement of DC electric fields, and the precision error is within ± 0.1 % .