Electro-optic sensor for static fields

A sensor has been developed for low frequency and DC electric fields E . The device is capable of measuring fields with Δ E = 4 (1) V/cm resolution. It is based on a Y-cut Z-propagation lithium niobate electro-optic crystal. For a particular commercially available bare crystal, we achieved an in air time constant τ c ( a i r ) = 6.4 ( 1.8 ) h for the decay of the electro-optic signal. This enables field monitoring for several hours. As an application, we demonstrated that a constant electric field E ext = 640 V/cm applied via external electrodes to a particular spherical glass container holding an Xe/He gas mixture decays inside this cell with a time constant τ E glass = 2.5 ( 5 ) h. This is sufficient for the needs of experiments searching for a permanent electric dipole moment in 129 Xe. An integrated electric field sensor has been constructed which is coupled to a light source and light detectors via optical fibers. The sensor head does not contain any electrically conducting material.