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Main Authors: Sun, Suwan, Guo, Hairun, Luiten, Andre, Weng, Wenle
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08773
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author Sun, Suwan
Guo, Hairun
Luiten, Andre
Weng, Wenle
author_facet Sun, Suwan
Guo, Hairun
Luiten, Andre
Weng, Wenle
contents Facilitated by low-noise laser frequency locking, optical microresonators with the Pockels effect have shown unprecedented high resolutions in sensing electrical field. However, the requirement for tunable and low-noise laser sources considerably increases the cost and the size of the system, thereby limiting the industrial applicability of the microresonator-based technology. Here, we explore the possibility of using a low-cost fixed-frequency semiconductor laser as the pump laser to perform radiofrequency electrometry. A resonant mode in a lithium niobate microresonator is frequency-locked to the laser using the electrooptic effect. This same effect also underlies the radiofrequency electric-field sensing mechanism. Our experimental results show that the electrometry resolution can be maintained at signal frequencies beyond the optical resonance bandwidth and that the signal-to-noise ratio does not change with varied coupling conditions as long as the laser frequency noise is the dominant noise source of the system. In addition, narrowband electrooptic sensitivity enhancement is observed at frequencies of the microresonator's piezoelectric resonances, resulting in a resolution enhancement factor of approximately 3 at signal frequencies around 4 MHz. Our work advances the photonic resonant electrometry technology by studying the bandwidth limitation, and opens the road to the employment of low-cost lasers in high-resolution sensing applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_08773
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Photonic electrometry using a piezoelectric-Pockels microresonator
Sun, Suwan
Guo, Hairun
Luiten, Andre
Weng, Wenle
Optics
Facilitated by low-noise laser frequency locking, optical microresonators with the Pockels effect have shown unprecedented high resolutions in sensing electrical field. However, the requirement for tunable and low-noise laser sources considerably increases the cost and the size of the system, thereby limiting the industrial applicability of the microresonator-based technology. Here, we explore the possibility of using a low-cost fixed-frequency semiconductor laser as the pump laser to perform radiofrequency electrometry. A resonant mode in a lithium niobate microresonator is frequency-locked to the laser using the electrooptic effect. This same effect also underlies the radiofrequency electric-field sensing mechanism. Our experimental results show that the electrometry resolution can be maintained at signal frequencies beyond the optical resonance bandwidth and that the signal-to-noise ratio does not change with varied coupling conditions as long as the laser frequency noise is the dominant noise source of the system. In addition, narrowband electrooptic sensitivity enhancement is observed at frequencies of the microresonator's piezoelectric resonances, resulting in a resolution enhancement factor of approximately 3 at signal frequencies around 4 MHz. Our work advances the photonic resonant electrometry technology by studying the bandwidth limitation, and opens the road to the employment of low-cost lasers in high-resolution sensing applications.
title Photonic electrometry using a piezoelectric-Pockels microresonator
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08773