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arXiv:2405.07993 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Doppler sensitivity and resonant tuning of Rydberg atom-based antennas

Peter B. Weichman

Published Jul 15, 2024• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Radio frequency antennas based on Rydberg atom vapor cells can in principle reach sensitivities beyond those of any conventional wire antenna, especially at lower frequencies where very long wires are needed to accommodate the increasing wavelength. They also have other desirable features such as consisting of nonmetallic, hence lower profile, elements. This paper presents a detailed theoretical investigation of Rydberg antenna sensitivity, elucidating parameter regimes that could cumulatively lead to a sensitivity increase 2–3 orders of magnitude beyond that of currently tested configurations. The key insight is to optimally combine the advantages of two well-studied approaches: (i) three laser ‘2D star configuration’ setups that, when enhanced with increased laser power, to some degree compensate for atom motion-induced Doppler broadening, and (ii) resonant coupling between a pair of near-degenerate Rydberg levels, tuned via a local oscillator to the incident signal of interest. The advantage of the star setup is subtle because it only restores the overall sensitivity to the expected Doppler-limited value, compensating for additional significant off-resonance reductions where differently moving atom sub-populations destructively interfere with each other in the net signal. An additional unique advantage of local oscillator tuning is that it leads to vastly narrower line widths, as low as ∼10 kHz set by the intrinsic Rydberg state lifetimes, rather than the typical ∼10 MHz scale set by the core state lifetimes. Intuitively, with this setup the two Rydberg states may be tuned to act as an independent high-q cavity, a point of view supported by a study of the frequency-dependence of the antenna resonant response. There are a number of practical experimental advances, especially larger ∼1 cm laser beam widths, required to suppress various extrinsic line broadening effects and to fully exploit this ‘Rydberg superheterodyne’ response.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/ad6385

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Abstract Radio frequency antennas based on Rydberg atom vapor cells can in principle reach sensitivities beyond those of any conventional wire antenna, especially at lower frequencies where very long wires are needed to accommodate the increasing wavelength. They also have other desirable features such as consisting of nonmetallic, hence lower profile, elements. This paper presents a detailed theoretical investigation of Rydberg antenna sensitivity, elucidating parameter regimes that could cumulatively lead to a sensitivity increase 2–3 orders of magnitude beyond that of currently tested configurations. The key insight is to optimally combine the advantages of two well-studied approaches: (i) three laser ‘2D star configuration’ setups that, when enhanced with increased laser power, to some degree compensate for atom motion-induced Doppler broadening, and (ii) resonant coupling between a pair of near-degenerate Rydberg levels, tuned via a local oscillator to the incident signal of interest. The advantage of the star setup is subtle because it only restores the overall sensitivity to the expected Doppler-limited value, compensating for additional significant off-resonance reductions where differently moving atom sub-populations destructively interfere with each other in the net signal. An additional unique advantage of local oscillator tuning is that it leads to vastly narrower line widths, as low as ∼10 kHz set by the intrinsic Rydberg state lifetimes, rather than the typical ∼10 MHz scale set by the core state lifetimes. Intuitively, with this setup the two Rydberg states may be tuned to act as an independent high-q cavity, a point of view supported by a study of the frequency-dependence of the antenna resonant response. There are a number of practical experimental advances, especially larger ∼1 cm laser beam widths, required to suppress various extrinsic line broadening effects and to fully exploit this ‘Rydberg superheterodyne’ response.
Radio frequency antennas based on Rydberg atoms can in principle reach sensitivities beyond those of any conventional wire antenna, especially at lower frequencies where very long wires are needed to accommodate the growing wavelength. This paper presents a detailed theoretical investigation of Rydberg antenna sensitivity, elucidating parameter regimes that could cumulatively lead to 2--3 orders of magnitude sensitivity increase. Of special interest are three-laser setups proposed to compensate for atom motion-induced Doppler spreading. Such setups are in indeed shown to be advantageous, but only because they restore sensitivity to the \emph{expected} Doppler-limited value, removing significant additional off-resonance reductions.
Radio frequency antennas based on highly excited Rydberg atom vapors can in principle reach sensitivities beyond those of any conventional wire antenna, especially at lower frequencies where very long wires are needed to accommodate the growing wavelength. Conventional Rydberg sensors are based on individual atom response, with increased signal resolution relying on the O(103)O({10}^{3})O(103) electric dipole moment enhancement, scaling as the square of the Rydberg-state principal quantum number $N\ensuremath{\sim}50$. However, despite more than 30 years of steady advances, beyond-classical signal sensitivity has yet to be demonstrated. More recently, the optical bistability effect, a many-body nonequilibrium phase transition occurring at somewhat higher vapor densities, has been exploited for an order of magnitude or more increased sensitivity for some setups through tuning into the critical region. However, the results fall significantly short of those using more advanced ``conventional'' Rydberg sensor setups---which achieve even greater enhancement by exploiting resonant interaction between a pair of nearby Rydberg levels. This paper seeks to combine the many-body and resonant enhancement effects by extending the bistable phase analysis to include a pair of resonant Rydberg levels, supported by an exact treatment of the atom velocity thermal average. A dynamic linear response formalism is developed as well to explore the trade-off between measurement sensitivity and finite-bandwidth signals. We demonstrate regions of the phase diagram which could be exploited for record breaking, beyond-classical sensitivity. Of course, only a limited number of vapor parameters are under full experimental control, and experiments will be needed to quantitatively constrain the effective mean-field interaction parameters appearing in the theory and thereby define the accessible regions of the phase diagram.
Measurement sensitivity is crucial for the practical application of Rydberg atomic microwave superheterodyne receiver systems in communication, radar, and navigation. Based on laser-atom-microwave interaction mechanisms, the influence of laser powers and local-oscillator (LO) microwave field intensity on measurement sensitivity is systematically studied in this paper. Measurement sensitivity is analyzed through electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectral characteristics, specifically EIT amplitude and full-width-half-maximum (FWHM),larger amplitudes and narrower FWHM indicate improved signal-to-noise ratios. For a 60D-state Rydberg atomic system with fixed probe and coupling laser beam waists (800 µm and 875 µm), optimal parameters are determined: probe laser power of 60 µW(Rabi frequency: 2π×7.02 MHz), coupling laser power of 40 mW (Rabi frequency: 2π×0.66 MHz), and LO microwave Rabi frequency of 2π×8.34 MHz. Experimental results demonstrate a 4.6 dB sensitivity enhancement, advancing from −137.5dBm/Hz to −142.1 dBm/Hz at 3.21 GHz microwave field. This improvement is attributed to precise alignment of laser-atom and microwave-atom interactions, bridging the gap toward quantum sensitivity limits.
Rydberg-atom antennas have the remarkable advantages of non-destructive and high sensitivity for RF telecommunications. However, current implementations are carried out on the optical platform of the laboratory, which exhibits low levels of equipment miniaturization and lacks mobility and integration for movement from the laboratory to outdoor testing. This article proposes a portable atomic antenna with a waveguide-integrated metallic mesh resonator (MMR) to synergize these methods, aiming for system integration and improving sensitivity for deep-space exploration applications. We developed modular 852 nm and 509 nm fiber systems, laser frequency locking architecture. Thus, a portable atomic antenna is realized with a smaller volume (0.1 × 0.25 × 0.3 m3), lighter weight (26 kg), and narrow probe laser linewidth (5.4 kHz). Experimental investigations were conducted at 8.3 GHz using a vapor cell in the resonators. Spectral measurements indicate that the MMR provides enhancement factors of 24.5 dB. The MMR achieves continuous frequency reconfiguration across 7.49-8.78 GHz by mechanical tuning while significantly reducing field distortions compared to traditional pin-based tuning systems. When MMR was used for Rydberg atomic heterodyning, the sensitivity improved significantly 14:3 nv/cm/√Hz, which is a 24.5 dB improvement in sensitivity than when MMR was not used. This research represents a significant low-SWaP advancement toward the practical application of Rydberg atomic antennas.
We present enhanced sensing of a radio frequency (RF) electric field (E-field) by the combined polarizability of Rydberg atoms and the optimized local oscillator (LO) field of a superheterodyne receiver. Our modified theoretical model reveals the dependencies of the sensitivity of E-field amplitude measurement on the polarizability of Rydberg states and the strength of the LO field. The enhanced sensitivities of the megahertz (MHz) E-field are demonstrated at the optimal LO field for three different Rydberg states 43D5/2{\rm 43D}_{5/2}43D5/2​, 60S1/2{\rm 60S}_{1/2}60S1/2​, and 90S1/2{\rm 90S}_{1/2}90S1/2​. The sensitivity of 63 MHz for the 90S1/2{\rm 90S}_{1/2}90S1/2​ state reaches 9.6 ×10−5 V/m/Hz\times 10^{-5}\rm \,V/m/\sqrt {Hz}×10−5V/m/Hz​, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than those already published. This result closely approaches the sensitivity limit of a 1 cm passive dipole antenna without using an impedance matching network. This atomic sensor based on the Rydberg Stark effect with heterodyne technique is expected to boost an alternative solution to electric dipole antennas.
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.