For U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) directed-energy applications, nonintrusive electric and magnetic field probes can solve several technical problems associated with conventional probes. Conventional sensors perturb the field, but they could be used for test and evaluation (T&E) if the T&E tolerates such field perturbations. But in a complex test environment, they are not suitable, as the sensor’s field perturbation results in irreproducible and inconsistent test results. Other problems, such as limited bandwidth and dynamic range and metallic cables, make the conventional sensors difficult or impossible to use for many critical tasks. To tackle these problems, we developed a nonintrusive electric field sensor made of all-dielectric materials, negligibly perturbing the field that it measures. The sensor has an extreme dynamic range and nearly-flat frequency response over the frequencies from 0 to 20 GHz. Its vector field detection capability enables us to measure the strength and direction of a radio frequency (RF) field simultaneously, fulfilling the DoD requirements for various high-power microwaves, high-power RF, and electromagnetic pulse applications.
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