An atom-based sensor is used to retrieve baseband signals modulated onto a microwave carrier. The 60 S 1/2 level of cesium atoms in a vapor cell is optically probed via electromagnetically induced transparency. A 16.98-GHz carrier is resonant with the 60 S 1/2 → 60 P 1/2 transition, resulting in an Autler–Townes (AT) splitting. Amplitude modulation (AM) results in a variation of the AT splitting, which is processed to retrieve the AM baseband signals. The optically retrieved signal has a fidelity of >95%. We demonstrate a baseband bandwidth of the receiver of about 60 kHz and a dynamic range of about 30 dB.
An atom-based sensor is used to retrieve baseband signals modulated onto a microwave carrier. The 60 S 1/2 level of cesium atoms in a vapor cell is optically probed via electromagnetically induced transparency. A 16.98-GHz carrier is resonant with the 60 S 1/2 → 60 P 1/2 transition, resulting in an Autler–Townes (AT) splitting. Amplitude modulation (AM) results in a variation of the AT splitting, which is processed to retrieve the AM baseband signals. The optically retrieved signal has a fidelity of >95%. We demonstrate a baseband bandwidth of the receiver of about 60 kHz and a dynamic range of about 30 dB.
Radio reception relies on antennas for the collection of electromagnetic fields carrying information, and receiver elements for demodulation and retrieval of the transmitted information. Here, we demonstrate an atom-based receiver for AM and FM microwave communication with a 3 dB bandwidth in the baseband of ~100 kHz that provides optical circuit-free field pickup, multiband carrier capability, and inherently high field sensitivity. The atom-based receiver exploits field-sensitive cesium Rydberg vapors in a centimeter-sized glass cell, and electromagnetically induced transparency, a quantum-optical effect, as a readout of baseband signals modulated onto carriers with frequencies ranging over four octaves, from C-band to Q-band. Receiver bandwidth, dynamic range and sideband suppression are characterized, and acquisition of audio waveforms of human vocals demonstrated. The atomic receiver is a valuable receiver technology because it does not require antenna structures and is resilient against electromagnetic interference, while affording multiband operation in a single compact receiving element.
Based on Autler-Townes splitting and AC Stark shifts, we present a Rydberg atom-based receiver for determining the amplitude modulation (AM) frequency among a wideband carrier range utilizing a cesium atomic vapor cell.To verify this approach, we measured the signal-to-noise ratio and the data capacity with a 10 kHz AM frequency in the carrier range from 2 GHz to 18 GHz.Without changing the lasers, the working band can be easily extended to a higher range by optimizing the feed antenna and experimental configurations.
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.
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.
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.
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.