Patent ID: 7826060

Claim:
A system to measure electrochemical processes, the system comprising: a pair of electrodes; a conductive solution containing ions that at least partially covers the pair of electrodes; a vessel that contains the pair of electrodes and the conductive solution; a voltage source electrically connected to the pair of electrodes to create a voltage differential between the pair of electrodes; and an interferometer that generates a signal laser beam incident on a first spot of one electrode of the pair of electrodes and a reference laser beam incident on a second spot of the other electrode of the pair of electrodes such that the signal laser beam and the reference laser beam are reflected from each of the pair of electrodes and superimposed to generate a signal indicative of the relative phase shift of the laser beam incident on each of the pair of the electrodes, the phase shift occurring due to differences in path lengths because of a difference in the refractive index of the conductive solution at the first spot and the refractive index of the conductive solution at the second spot, the difference in the refractive index at the first spot and the refractive index at the second spot being due to localized differences in ion concentrations in the conductive solution.