Optical electric-power-sensing system using faraday and pockels cells.

We present what to our knowledge is a novel optical electric-power-sensing system that uses a cascade of a Faraday cell and a Pockels cell. According to Jones-matrix analysis, the electric-power information is contained in the intensity of the emerging light. An instantaneous ac electric-power signal has been observed in real time, and the active power has been measured in the 0-1-kW range. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis and prove the feasibility of the optical sensing system.