Comparison of Antenna Measurements Obtained Using an Electro-Optical Probe System to Conventional RF Methods

Abstract

There are certain applications where the use of electro-optical (EO) probes to acquire near-field measurements can provide major advantages as compared to conventional RF measurement techniques. One such application is in the area of high power RF measurements that are required for calibration and test of active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). The family of EO probes presented herein utilizes the Pockels effect to measure the time-varying electric fields of the antenna under test (AUT). The use of a non-invasive, broadband EO probe facilitates measurement of the tangential electric field components very close to the AUT aperture in the reactive near-field region. This close proximity between the AUT and the measurement probe is not possible with conventional metallic probes. In this paper, the far field gain patterns acquired using the EO probe will be compared to the corresponding gain patterns obtained from conventional far-field and near-field methods. The measurement results, along with the advantages and disadvantages of the EO system configuration, will be presented.