Computer simulation of the fiber optic electric field sensor

Abstract

Abstract The article describes an approach for simulating the fiber optic electric field sensor with a sensitive element operating on the Pockels effect arising in an optical waveguide recorded in a lithium niobate crystal. The sensor simulating was implemented in the NI LabVIEW programming environment and built using a mathematical apparatus based on the formalism of Jones matrices, which allowed to describe the polarization state of the light beam at the output of the sensor and to calculate the intensity of the interference signal at the photodetector input. Besides, additional modulation with a sawtooth signal and digital phase detection were used in the simulation. The sensor model described in the article can be easily modified and complicated, which makes it possible to use it for research and analysis of both parasitic effects and different optical sensor configurations.