First Results From The LIEFSI Campaign in the NRL SPSC

The design and implementation of double probe electric field sensors for space plasma applications has a long and successful history spanning nearly 50 years. Existing and future designs for the E-field sensor elements and surrounding surfaces (guards, stubs, etc.) include options for DC and low-frequency current and voltage biasing of those surfaces, as well as driving of those surfaces at significant amplitudes and bandwidths. These features allow the optimization of the DC and AC coupling of the sensors to potential fluctuations in the ambient plasma and the reduction of the systematic errors in the E-field measurement due to stray and imbalanced currents to one or the other of the probes used for a given measurement.