Experimental investigation into low pressure gas discharges in microwave electric field optical sensor probes

This paper investigates the feasibility of using the emission intensity of low-pressure argon and nitrogen gas discharges as the sensing mechanism for a microwave electric field optical sensor probe in microwave resonant cavities. The emission is coupled to a photodiode for detection through an optical fibre due to the difficulty in using conventional optoelectronic devices in close proximity to microwave cavities. The discharge emission intensity is monitored at a range of different input powers to the cavity. The proposed designs for the electric field sensing probe are also included.