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arXiv:1803.03545 · Applied Physics Letters

Digital communication with Rydberg atoms and amplitude-modulated microwave fields

David H. Meyer, Kevin C. Cox, Fredrik K. Fatemi, Paul D. Kunz

Published May 21, 2018• 266 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Rydberg atoms, with one highly excited, nearly ionized electron, have extreme sensitivity to electric fields, including microwave fields ranging from 100 MHz to over 1 THz. Here, we show that room-temperature Rydberg atoms can be used as sensitive, high bandwidth, microwave communication antennas. We demonstrate near photon-shot-noise limited readout of data encoded in amplitude-modulated 17 GHz microwaves, using an electromagnetically induced-transparency (EIT) probing scheme. We measure a photon-shot-noise limited channel capacity of up to 8.2 Mbit s−1 and implement an 8-state phase-shift-keying digital communication protocol. The bandwidth of the EIT probing scheme is found to be limited by the available coupling laser power and the natural linewidth of the rubidium D2 transition. We discuss how atomic communication receivers offer several opportunities to surpass the capabilities of classical antennas.

DOI
10.1063/1.5028357

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Rydberg atoms, with one highly excited, nearly ionized electron, have extreme sensitivity to electric fields, including microwave fields ranging from 100 MHz to over 1 THz. Here, we show that room-temperature Rydberg atoms can be used as sensitive, high bandwidth, microwave communication antennas. We demonstrate near photon-shot-noise limited readout of data encoded in amplitude-modulated 17 GHz microwaves, using an electromagnetically induced-transparency (EIT) probing scheme. We measure a photon-shot-noise limited channel capacity of up to 8.2 Mbit s−1 and implement an 8-state phase-shift-keying digital communication protocol. The bandwidth of the EIT probing scheme is found to be limited by the available coupling laser power and the natural linewidth of the rubidium D2 transition. We discuss how atomic communication receivers offer several opportunities to surpass the capabilities of classical antennas.
Up to now, the measurement of radio-frequency (RF) electric field achieved using the electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) of Rydberg atoms has proved to be of high-sensitivity and shows a potential to produce a promising atomic RF receiver at resonance between two chosen Rydberg states. In this paper, we study the extension of the feasibility of digital communication via this quantum-based antenna over a continuously tunable RF-carrier at off-resonance. Our experiment shows that the digital communication at a rate of 500 kbps can be performed reliably within a tunable bandwidth of 200 MHz near a 10.22 GHz carrier. Outside of this range, the bit error rate (BER) increases, rising to, for example, 15% at an RF-detuning of ±150 MHz. In the measurement, the time-varying RF field is retrieved by detecting the optical power of the probe laser at the center frequency of RF-induced symmetric or asymmetric Autler-Townes splitting in EIT. Prior to the digital test, we studied the RF-reception quality as a function of various parameters including the RF detuning and found that a choice of linear gain response to the RF-amplitude can suppress the signal distortion. The modulating signal can be decoded at speeds up to 500 kHz in the tunable bandwidth. Our test consolidates the physical basis for reliable communication and spectral sensing over a wider broadband RF-carrier, which paves a way for the concurrent multi-channel communications founded on the same pair of Rydberg states.
Recently, Rydberg atoms have attracted increasing interests for applications as electric field sensors, RF spectrometers, and microwave receivers. In this paper, we present experimental studies of a cesium (Cs) Rydberg atomic microwave receiver and its temporal response characteristics to amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), and binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation. The receiver is associated with the Cs Rydberg transitions of n2D5/2 – (n+1)2P3/2 at various frequencies, which is generated by double-resonance laser excitations in a room temperature Cs vapor cell. We use the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) and Autler-Townes (AT) effects to directly receive modulated microwave signals and recover the data encoded in the carriers. We demonstrated AM and FM digital data transmissions at data rates up to 1 Mbps and BPSK modulation and demodulation with a clock frequency of 250 kHz. Modulation depths up to 90% are experimentally observed and studied as a function of the modulation clock frequency. We also perform modeling to show that Cs atoms have accessible Rydberg transitions at frequencies covering the range from below GHz to THz for wideband microwave receiver applications across RF systems.
The highly-excited Rydberg states are with a unique property of radio-frequency (RF) resonance, and Rydberg atoms at room temperature are promising for developing a broadband RF electric field sensor and relevant metrology standards. In this paper, the working mechanism of an atomic amplitude-modulation(AM) radio receiver is investigated in detail, and various factors affecting the communication quality are discussed. The modulation RF signal can be directly retrieved by measuring the transmission of a probe laser at resonance of rubidium D2 transition using a fast photo-diode detector, without any conventional demodulation process. Various communication experiments are tested at a 10.22 GHz carrier, and a modulation bandwidth of 1 MHz and an acceptable data transfer rate of about 1 Mbps have been achieved using current detection techniques. Owing to a potential high sensitivity and ultra-broadband capability of free-space RF field sensing, the quantum receiver has great significance compared with conventional electronics-based receivers, including but not limited to a weak signal, long-distance, and broadband communication in free space or via a fiber link.
A highly excited Rydberg atom via electromagnetically induced transparency with two color cascading lasers has extreme sensitivity to electric fields of microwave ranging from 100 MHz to over 1 THz. It can be used as susceptible atom-based microwave communication antennas where the carrier wave usually works exactly resonant to the transition between a pair of adjacent Rydberg states with large electric dipole moment. A technique of superheterodyne with a strong on-resonant local microwave oscillator is employed to induce considerable Autler-Townes splitting where the antennas has a highest dynamic response to another weak target signal microwave carrier. To further improve the sensitivity of atomic antenna in communication, we detune the carrier microwave frequency off resonance forming an asymmetrically optical splitting and fix the coupling laser frequency at the shoulder of the stronger one, and optimize the local field strength simultaneously. It gives a sensitivity of 12.50(04) nVcm−1⋅Hz−1/2\rm{nVcm^{-1}\cdot Hz^{-1/2}}nVcm−1⋅Hz−1/2. Its enhancement mechanism of sensitivity is also proved by a theoretical simulation.
We demonstrate an atom-based amplitude-modulation (AM) receiver for digital communication with a weak continuous frequency carrier using a Rydberg AC Stark effect in a vapor cell and achieve the operating carrier frequency continuously from 0.1 GHz to 5 GHz at a single Rydberg state. A strong local oscillator (LO) field E LO acts as a gain to shift the Rydberg level to a high sensitivity region, and a weak carrier field E Carr keeps the same frequency with the LO field. The digital baseband signals are encoded onto the E Carr using the amplitude modulation technique with the different modulation frequency. The response of Rydberg atom to the baseband signal is probed via a Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The measured instantaneous bandwidth of the system is about 230 kHz. To demonstrate the performance of our system for an actual communication, we consider a color image as an example, the received image displays that the bit error rate (BER) is less than 5% when the maximum data transfer rate is about 238 kbps. Meanwhile, our system shows the weak carrier field of E Carr ≥ 13.52 μ V/cm can be used for the practical communication with BER less than 5%. Our works break the limitation that EIT-AT based atomic receivers only operate at the near resonant frequencies of the Rydberg transitions, making this emerging of quantum technology close to the practical application with high sensitivity and broad bandwidth.
Abstract The Rydberg atomic receiver (RAR), characterized by its broad bandwidth, high sensitivity, traceability, and all-optical readout, has substantial potential in wireless communication. We implement the reception of amplitude-phase shift keying (APSK) modulated microwave signals using the RAR, where its self-demodulation capability, based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Autler–Townes (AT) splitting, preserves amplitude and phase information for decoding and data recovery. The relationship between amplitude and phase encoding orders in different APSK schemes and the bit error rate (BER) is explored. Relative to conventional amplitude-shift keying (ASK), APSK extends the phase dimension to increase data capacity proportional to the number of phase states. Additionally, APSK allows control of symbol durations, and the impact of varying symbol durations on data recovery is assessed through image transmission. This work utilizes the self-demodulation capabilities of the RAR to implement APSK within a quantum framework, thereby providing new insights for advancing quantum sensing and communication applications.