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arXiv:1805.06870

Quantum-enabled electrometer measures field transients and correlation function

Eva-Katharina Dietsche, Arthur Larrouy, J. M. Raimond, M. Brune, S. Gleyzes

Published May 17, 2018• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We realize a non-invasive electrometer based on state engineering in a Rydberg hydrogenic manifold. A quantum interference process involving states with very different dipoles measures directly the time correlation of a stochastic electric field, with a 200~ns time resolution and with a $83.2\pm1.4$~mV/m single-atom sensitivity, beyond the Standard Quantum Limit in this context. This quantum-enabled correlation electrometer opens the way to applications in mesoscopic physics, e.g. for the study of individual charge transits in nano-structures.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1805.06870

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We realize a non-invasive electrometer based on state engineering in a Rydberg hydrogenic manifold. A quantum interference process involving states with very different dipoles measures directly the time correlation of a stochastic electric field, with a 200~ns time resolution and with a 83.2±1.483.2\pm1.483.2±1.4~mV/m single-atom sensitivity, beyond the Standard Quantum Limit in this context. This quantum-enabled correlation electrometer opens the way to applications in mesoscopic physics, e.g. for the study of individual charge transits in nano-structures.
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Atom in Rydberg state has large polarizability, large electric dipole and low ionization threshold field. It is very sensitive to electric field, therefore it can be used to measure the amplitude of electric field, especially the microwave electric field. The new developed scheme is based on quantum interference effects (electromagnetically induced transparency and Autler-Townes splitting) in Rydberg atoms. Instead of the direct amplitude measurement, this method tests the Rabi frequency value of the transmission spectrum which is determined by the microwave electric field strength and the corresponding atom nature. The minimum measured strengths of microwave electric fields are far below the standard values obtained by traditional antenna methods. Compared with the traditional methods, this new scheme has several advantages, such as self-calibration, non-perturbation to the measured field and independence of the probe length. Besides, this scheme can also be used to measure the polarization direction of microwave electric field and realize sub-wavelength imaging. Through adjusting the wavelength of coupling laser, a broadband 1-500 GHz microwave electric field measurement can be achieved. This new scheme is benefitial to conducting the continue electric field measurement and the miniaturization of the test equipment. In this paper, the researches about using Rydberg atom to measure electric field with high precision are reviewed. The basic theory and experimental techniques are introduced. Finally, we discuss a promising method of using Rydberg atom interferometer to detect the accumulated phase in the process of interaction between electric field and Rydberg atoms. This method converts amplitude measurement into phase test, which may improve the precision and sensitivity.
We present the experimental realization and characterization of a Ramsey interferometer based on optically trapped ultracold potassium atoms, where one state is continuously coupled by an off-resonant laser field to a highly excited Rydberg state. We show that the observed interference signals can be used to precisely measure the Rydberg atom-light coupling strength as well as the population and coherence decay rates of the Rydberg-dressed states with subkilohertz accuracy and for Rydberg state fractions as small as one part in 10^{6}. We also demonstrate an application for measuring small, static electric fields with high sensitivity. This provides the means to combine the outstanding coherence properties of Ramsey interferometers based on atomic ground states with a controllable coupling to strongly interacting states, thus expanding the number of systems suitable for metrological applications and many-body physics studies.
Coherent control of Rydberg atoms near dielectric surfaces is a major challenge due to the large sensitivity of Rydberg states to electric fields. We demonstrate coherent single-atom operations and two-qubit entanglement as close as 100 μm from a nanophotonic device. Using the individual atom control enabled by optical tweezers to study the spatial and temporal properties of the electric field from the surface, we employ dynamical decoupling techniques to characterize and cancel the electric-field noise with submicrosecond temporal resolution. We further use entanglement-assisted sensing to accurately map magnitude and direction of electric-field gradients on a micrometer scale. Our observations open a path for integration of Rydberg arrays with micro- and nanoscale devices for applications in quantum networking and quantum information science.