An electric field sensor utilizing a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF₂) film in a single-mode fiber interferometer

Abstract

A polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ) phase shifter is characterized in terms of amplitude response linearity, frequency response uniformity, and ultimate sensitivity to electric field. Phase-drift compensation with this PVF <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> device is demonstrated in a Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer. The compensator can be operated at the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\pi/2</tex> -phase mode for maximum sensitivity in detection applications, or the π-phase mode for maximum frequency mixing efficiency.