Field analysis of electro-optic probes for minimally invasive microwave sampling

Abstract

We numerically and experimentally investigate the field invasiveness of microwave signals using an electro-optic technique. The distortion of the standing wave voltage and pulse waveform probed by the electro-optic technique is explored through both minimally invasive external and non-invasive internal sensing configurations. First, we analyzed the continuous wave microwave field imaging on a millimeter- scale coaxial transmission line using a highly accurate and stable electro- optic scanning system. The electric field images from the microwave device are attained virtually non-invasively using a miniaturized fiber-coupled electro-optic probe. The accuracy of the field imaging associated with various probe styles is investigated by numerical analysis and experiment. Then, we analyzed the waveform of the coaxial transmission line up to 50 GHz using a pulsed electro-optic system with an external probe set. Finally, the invasive analysis was extended to the sub-millimeter-scale on-wafer coplanar waveguides, where the voltage waveforms are measured using a minimally invasive external probe as well as an internal wafer probe for non-invasive sampling.