pockels effect
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Sensors based on polarization are suitable for application in power grids due to their excellent characteristics, such as high electrical insulation, non-magnetic saturation, oil-free, no risk of explosive failures, and high bandwidth. Utility companies are incorporating new technologies that are driving the evolution of electrical systems. Thus, it is interesting to evaluate the possibility of using polarization sensors in a network configuration. In this work, we present an experimental study of a current and voltage polarization sensor network applied to a medium voltage distribution grid. The current sensor is based on the Faraday effect, and the voltage sensor uses the Pockels effect. Both sensors use a 90° polarization degree between the two output ports to compensate for the various impairments on the measurements by applying the difference-over-sum. The network uses a DWDM topology centered at the 1550 nm range, and both current and voltage sensors in this work used this spectral band. We evaluated the sensor node in terms of accuracy according to IEC standard 61869-10 and IEC standard 61869-11. Considering that an important application of this sensor network is in the aerial cable of medium voltage networks, sensor node accuracy was also estimated in the presence of cable vibration. The calculated power budget of the proposed network indicates that reaching ten nodes of current and voltage sensors in a 10 km optical link is possible, which is enough for a medium urban voltage distribution network.

Optical Current Transformers (OCTs) and Optical Voltage Transformers (OVTs) are an alternative to the conventional transformers for protection and metering purposes with a much smaller footprint and weight. Their advantages were widely discussed in scientific and technical literature and commercial applications based on the well-known Faraday and Pockels effect. However, the literature is still scarce in studies evaluating the use of optical transformers for power quality purposes, an important issue of power system designed to analyze the various phenomena that cause power quality disturbances. In this paper, we constructed a temperature-independent prototype of an optical voltage transformer based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and piezoelectric ceramics (PZT), adequate to be used in field surveys at 13.8 kV distribution lines. The OVT was tested under several disturbances defined in IEEE standards that can occur in the electrical power system, especially short-duration voltage variations such as SAG, SWELL, and INTERRUPTION. The results demonstrated that the proposed OVT presents a dynamic response capable of satisfactorily measuring such disturbances and that it can be used as a power quality monitor for a 13.8 kV distribution system. Test on the proposed system concluded that it was capable to reproduce up to the 41st harmonic without significative distortion and impulsive surges up to 2.5 kHz. As an advantage, when compared with conventional systems to monitor power quality, the prototype can be remote-monitored, and therefore, be installed at strategic locations on distribution lines to be monitored kilometers away, without the need to be electrically powered.

Whispering gallery resonators made out of lithium niobate allow for optical parametric oscillation and frequency comb generation employing the outstanding second-order nonlinear-optical properties of this material. An important knob to tune and control these processes is, e.g., the linear electro-optic effect, the Pockels effect via externally applied electric fields. Due to the shape of the resonators a precise prediction of the electric field strength that affects the optical mode is non-trivial. Here, we study the average strength of the electric field in z-direction in the region of the optical mode for different configurations and geometries of lithium niobate whispering gallery resonators with the help of the finite element method. We find that in some configurations almost 100% is present in the cavity compared to the ideal case of a cylindrical resonator. Even in the case of a few-mode resonator with a very thin rim we find a strength of 90%. Our results give useful design considerations for future arrangements that may benefit from the strong electro-optic effect in bulk whispering gallery resonators made out of lithium niobate.

We studied the spectral dependence of the Vickers microhardness HV0.025 of CdZnTe and CdZnTeSe samples upon illumination and found out that it increases over the entire applied spectral range of 1540–750 nm. We also found out that the photoconductivity and microhardness are correlated. We observed changes in the correlation diagram (change of slope and an abrupt change of HV0.025 at several wavelengths of the illuminating light). Based on measurements of the relative changes of the space charge upon illumination using the Pockels effect, we suggest that the observed spectral dependence of positive photoplastic effect in CdZnTe and CdZnTeSe can be explained by the trapping of photoinduced electrons and holes, which affects the motion of the partial dislocations. The underlying physical explanation relies on the assumption that reconstructed bonds break before dislocation glide.