Measurement of electric fields and estimation of dielectric susceptibility

We describe a method of measuring the spatial structures of electric fields produced by charge distributions such as those on strip electrodes, small disk electrodes, and long double-plate electrodes. An electric-field sensor with high sensitivity to ac fields is fabricated for the measurement using a thin copper sheet. The reliability of the sensor is confirmed using a parallel-plate capacitor. The electric fields are oscillated at a frequency of 300 kHz to operate the electric-field sensor successfully. The structures of the measured fields coincide well with those of theoretical fields derived from Coulomb's law. When a dielectric is inserted in an electric field, polarization charges appear on the surface of the dielectric and modify the electric field in empty space. We measure the modified field and confirm the well-known linear relation between the polarization of a dielectric and the electric field. Dielectric susceptibilities are estimated from the linear relation for four types of dielectric. (C) 2013 American Association of Physics Teachers. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4793439]