Mixing and detection of microwave signals in fibre-optic electrostrictive sensor

The nonlinear strain-polarisation relationship in electrostrictive ceramics is exploited to demonstrate, for the first time, detection and mixing of microwave signals in a fibre-optic electrostrictive sensor. The nonlinear electrostrictive transducer mixes the microwave signal with a signal from a local oscillator, and the resulting strain at the intermediate frequency is detected with a fibre-optic interferometer. The sensor demonstrated approximately flat response in the microwave regime (up to 20 GHz) with a resolution of 5×10^-6 V/√ Hz