Measurement of electrical field distribution around a biological body by an optical technique

When a biological body enters a uniform unperturbed field, the field is distorted by the body and the field concentration occurs on various parts of the body. To elucidate the biological effects of strong electric field, the coupling of the electric field to a biological body has to be well understood and the field exposure dose to a biological body has to be evaluated qualitatively. Using an optical field sensor with a minimum field perturbation, we have developed a system which can visualize the spatial distribution of the field around an object with a complex shape such as a biological body. First, the accuracy of the measurement was confirmed through comparison between the measurement and theoretical calculation using the model with a simple geometry. Second, the field distributions were measured with experimental animals and it was shown that a conductor model can be used instead of a living body in this frequency range. Based on these results, the field distributions were measured with a human model in various conditions found in common everyday life. These results will provide useful information on the behavior of the field around a human body.