The present invention relates to an electromagnetic field measurement apparatus that measures an electromagnetic field by using laser light, an optical fiber, and an electrooptic/magnetooptic material to measure an electromagnetic field generated from an electronic circuit.
There has been conventionally known a probe that measures an electromagnetic field by using laser light, an optical fiber, and an EO (electrooptic) material/MO (magnetooptic) material, and evaluation results of microwave circuits and antennas obtained by using the probe have been reported (refer to, e.g., NPL 1). The probe includes an optical fiber and an EO/MO material formed at the leading end of the optical fiber. The probe of such a type can perform high spatial resolution measurement on a circuit board or can perform measurement for a minute or narrow area owing to the minuteness of the EO/MO material serving as a sensor element and narrowness of the optical fiber. In general, only one optical fiber probe is used for measurement, and the probe is fixed to a measurement point or made to scan over an object to be measured.
Further, in recent years, there is reported development of a method (electric field camera) in which a tabular EO material having a size of 1 cm to 2 cm square is placed on an object to be measured and is irradiated with laser light having a beam diameter nearly equal to the plane size of the EO material to measure the electric field distribution of the irradiated area instantaneously (refer to, e.g., NPL 2). The probe of such a type can perform measurement of the electric field distribution at extremely short times without making the probe perform scanning.
In the field of optical communication, a wavelength division multiplex (WDM) communication represents a major breakthrough as a method enabling large capacity and high-speed communication. In this method, by utilizing a fact that light of different ranges of wavelengths can be transmitted by the use of an optical fiber, it is possible to transmit optical signals of a plurality of channels at a time (refer to, e.g., NPL 3). As an element essential for such a communication system, development of an optical wavelength filter element serving as a wavelength separation element is currently underway (refer to, e.g., NPL 4).
In the development of a small-sized/sophisticated electronic apparatus typified by a recent mobile phone, a method of designing the electronic apparatus or method of testing the operation thereof becomes a major development item. This is because of that various kinds of electronic devices mounted inside the electronic apparatus at high density operate at high speed, so that malfunction of the devices may occur due to electromagnetic interference inside the apparatus. As the method of the device operation test that has frequently be used, a voltage wavelength measurement using a voltage probe having at its leading end a metal probe can be taken. This method can perform wavelength measurement only by bringing the metal probe into contact with a measurement point (metal portion) in principle, so that it is possible to easily determine the operating state of the device at short times.
{NPL 1 } S. Wakana, T. Ohara, M. Abe, E. Yamazaki, M. Kishi, and M. Tsuchiya: “Fiber-Edge Electrooptic/Magnetooptic Probe for Spectral-Domain Analysis of Electromagnetic Field”, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., Vol. 48, No. 12, pp. 2611-2616 (December 2000)
{NPL 2} K. Sasagawa and M. Tsuchiya, “Real-time monitoring system of RF near-field distribution images on the basis of 64-channel parallel electro-optic data acquisition”, IEICE Electronics Express, vol. 2, no. 24, pp. 600-606, 2005
{NPL 3} H. Takara, “Multiple Optical Carrier Generation from a Supercontinuum Source”, Optics & Photonics News, pp. 48-51 (March 2002)
{NPL 4} Hideaki Okayama “Waveguide-Type Optical Wavelength Filters”, OKI Technical Review, Issue 192 Vol. 69 No. 4, pp. 72-75 (October 2002)
As described above, the conventional optical fiber probe performs measurement at one point or performs planar measurement in a time-consuming manner, so that circuit operation detection in an area where a large number of devices are mounted, such as the entire area or a part of a printed circuit board cannot be achieved in a timely manner.
The use of a tabular EO material and an electric field camera using laser light having a large diameter, both of which have been recently developed, allows achievement of timely operation detection in an area having a size of 1 cm to 2 cm square. However, the operation detection in a wider area cannot be performed, and operation detection in, e.g., a narrow gap between devices cannot be made easily.
Further, in a case where a voltage probe having at its leading end a metal probe is used, measurement can be made only at one point in general as in the case of using the conventional optical fiber probe. Further, in a case of the contact-type probing using a metal probe, charge is induced on the probe at the measurement point, which may cause a drawback. For example, when operation detection is performed using a probe of such a type in a wiring between transmission IC and reception IC, charge is induced on the probe side to generate waveform rounding of a signal to be supplied to the reception IC, which may cause the reception IC to malfunction. That is, malfunction of the device may occur in association with the probing operation.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electromagnetic field measurement apparatus capable of achieving correct and timely circuit operation detection in an area where electronic devices are mounted at high density.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electromagnetic field measurement apparatus including: a laser light source that emits laser light; a polarized wave controller that linearly polarizes the laser light emitted from the laser light source; an optical fiber probe that has an electrooptic material or a magnetooptic material at its leading end and in which the laser light reflected at the leading end is subjected to polarization modulation in accordance with an electric field intensity or a magnetic field intensity at the leading end; and an analyzer that converts the laser light reflected by the optical fiber probe into intensity modulated light, wherein the laser light source emits a time-divided laser light of a plurality of wavelengths different from one another, the electromagnetic field measurement apparatus further includes: an optical circulator that outputs the laser light linearly polarized by the polarized wave controller to a multiplexer/demultiplexer and outputs the laser light input from the multiplexer/demultiplexer to the analyzer; and a multiplexer/demultiplexer that outputs the laser light input from the optical circulator to different optical fiber probes according to the wavelength of the laser light and outputs the laser light input from the optical fiber probes to the optical circulator, and the analyzer converts the laser light that is reflected by the optical probes, passed through the multiplexer/demultiplexer and the optical circulator into intensity modulated light.
By performing multi-point measurement using a plurality of probes, circuit operation determination can be achieved at short times.
{FIG. 1} A view illustrating a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
{FIG. 2} A view illustrating a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
{FIG. 3} A view illustrating a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
{FIG. 4} A view illustrating a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
{FIG. 5} A conceptual view of a probe having a resonator structure according to the present invention.
{FIG. 6} A flowchart for explaining a circuit operation detection system according to the present invention.
Preferred exemplary embodiments for practicing the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With an apparatus in which the multiplexer/demultiplexer 5 or optical switch 12 is incorporated in the optical fiber electromagnetic field probe device, and a plurality of the optical fiber probes 14 and/or a plurality of signal measurement devices 11 are used, multi-point electromagnetic field measurement can be achieved in a wide area where devices are mounted at high density, thereby allowing correct circuit operation evaluation to be achieved at short times.
Further, with an apparatus in which a WDM communication technique is applied to the optical fiber electromagnetic field probe device, and a plurality of the optical fiber probes 14 and a plurality of signal measurement devices 11 are used, simultaneous multi-point electromagnetic field measurement can be achieved in a wide area where devices are mounted at high density, allowing correct circuit operation detection to be achieved at short times.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, by performing multi-point measurement using a plurality of the optical fiber probes, circuit operation evaluation can be achieved at short times.
Further, according to the exemplary embodiment, by performing simultaneous multi-point measurement using a plurality of the optical fiber probes and a plurality of the signal measurement devices with a WDM technique applied to the probe device, circuit operation detection can be achieved in a timely manner.
An example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
An example of an apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus in which a supercontinuum light source (NPL 3) is used as the light source 1 and an array waveguide grating element (NPL 4) is used as the multiplexer/demultiplexer 5 in the configuration of e.g.,
In addition to the use of the light source and multiplexer/demultiplexer, a configuration may be adopted in which the probes 6a to 6d are made more sensitive to the wavelengths λ1 to λ4. For example, as illustrated in
λres=2n1cosθ/m (expression 1)
wherein
Thus, if the refractive index and thickness of the material is known, the light source wavelength achieving high sensitivity can be determined. In a case where the light source wavelength has been determined, material design for achieving a high sensitive probe can be made using the expression 1.
Further, in addition to the use of the light source and multiplexer/demultiplexer, a configuration may be made in which the leading end of each of the probes 6a to 6d may be microminiaturized. To this end, an aerosol deposition method is used to directly form an EO or MO film on the edge surface of the optical fiber. By using the aerosol deposition method, it is possible to form the EO or MO film having the same width equivalent to the fiber diameter and a thickness of as small as several μm to several tens of μm, thereby realizing a microminiature probe. The composition of EO film preferably includes zirconate titanate and lanthanum-added zirconate titanate, and the composition of the MO film preferably includes ferrite having a garnet structure, a spinel structure, or a hexagonal structure.
It is possible to realize a circuit operation detection system targeting, e.g., a printed circuit board by using the apparatus illustrated in any of
Referring to
By performing the multi-point measurement using a plurality of probes, circuit operation determination can be achieved at short times. Further, the simultaneous multi-point measurement can be achieved by using the apparatus illustrated in
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2008-026375, filed on Feb. 6, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alternatives can be made therein without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Further, it is the inventor's intent to retain all equivalents of the claimed invention even if the claims are amended during prosecution.
The present invention may be applied as an electromagnetic field measurement apparatus serving as an implementation/electrical design support tool or a circuit diagnostic tool. That is, by performing electromagnetic field measurement on an LSI or around an LSI package using the apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to acquire information for feeding back to electric design or to perform circuit operation verification.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-026375 | Feb 2008 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2009/051868 | 2/4/2009 | WO | 00 | 8/3/2010 |