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arXiv:2609.22236

BER-Aware Joint Parameter Optimization of Rydberg Atomic Quantum Receivers

Akash Kumar Mandal, Ming Shen

Published Sep 3, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Rydberg-atom quantum receivers (RAQRs) offer highly sensitive RF reception, but their communication performance depends jointly on atomic response, optical transduction, receiver noise, bandwidth, and wireless-channel conditions. This paper develops a BER-aware communication-theoretic framework for superheterodyne RAQR-assisted wireless communication, linking four-level Rydberg-atom dynamics and coherent optical detection to multipath propagation and digital communication performance. Closed-form instantaneous and average SNR and BER expressions are derived for square Gray-coded $M$-QAM over correlated Rayleigh fading. The RAQR operating point is then jointly optimized over atomic, optical, RF, and geometric parameters using analytical block-wise updates within a fixed-point procedure subject to physical and bandwidth constraints. Numerical results demonstrate substantial gains in low-power reception, bandwidth utilization, robustness to detuning, fading and delay spread, outage, and communication coverage compared with conventional, advanced, and fixed-point RAQR receivers. The results demonstrate that BER-aware joint optimization translates the intrinsic sensitivity of Rydberg-atom sensing into tangible communication-level gains.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2609.22236

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Rydberg-atom quantum receivers (RAQRs) offer highly sensitive RF reception, but their communication performance depends jointly on atomic response, optical transduction, receiver noise, bandwidth, and wireless-channel conditions. This paper develops a BER-aware communication-theoretic framework for superheterodyne RAQR-assisted wireless communication, linking four-level Rydberg-atom dynamics and coherent optical detection to multipath propagation and digital communication performance. Closed-form instantaneous and average SNR and BER expressions are derived for square Gray-coded MMM-QAM over correlated Rayleigh fading. The RAQR operating point is then jointly optimized over atomic, optical, RF, and geometric parameters using analytical block-wise updates within a fixed-point procedure subject to physical and bandwidth constraints. Numerical results demonstrate substantial gains in low-power reception, bandwidth utilization, robustness to detuning, fading and delay spread, outage, and communication coverage compared with conventional, advanced, and fixed-point RAQR receivers. The results demonstrate that BER-aware joint optimization translates the intrinsic sensitivity of Rydberg-atom sensing into tangible communication-level gains.
The significant progress of quantum sensing technologies offer numerous radical solutions for measuring a multitude of physical quantities at an unprecedented precision. Among them, Rydberg atomic quantum receivers (RAQRs) emerge as an eminent solution for detecting the electric field of radio frequency (RF) signals, exhibiting great potential in assisting classical wireless communications and sensing. So far, most experimental studies have aimed for the proof of physical concepts to reveal its promise, while the practical signal model of RAQR-aided wireless communications and sensing remained under-explored. Furthermore, the performance of RAQR-based wireless receivers and their advantages over classical RF receivers have not been fully characterized. To fill these gaps, we introduce the RAQR to the wireless community by presenting an end-to-end reception scheme. We then develop a corresponding equivalent baseband signal model relying on a realistic reception flow. Our scheme and model provide explicit design guidance to RAQR-aided wireless systems. We next study the performance of RAQR-aided wireless systems based on our model, and compare them to classical RF receivers. The results show that Doppler broadening-free RAQRs are capable of achieving a substantial received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of over 27 decibel (dB) and 40 dB in the photon shot limit and standard quantum limit regimes, respectively.
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Rydberg atomic quantum receivers (RAQRs) have recently emerged as a promising technology for radio-frequency (RF) reception by directly transducing incident RF fields into optical signals. Existing receiver architectures, however, exploit only subsets of the dipole-allowed transitions within a given atomic manifold, limiting the number of simultaneously accessible RF channels. In this paper, a hybrid six-level Rydberg atomic quantum receiver (H-RAQR) is proposed by integrating parallel and cascaded RF coupling pathways within a single vapor-cell receiver. A communication-oriented analytical framework is developed by deriving a closed-form steady-state atom--field interaction model and establishing an equivalent baseband signal representation. The achievable ergodic sum rate is analyzed, and a resource-efficiency metric is introduced to quantify throughput per unit optical receiver resource. The analytical model is validated against full Lindblad master-equation simulations over its identified operating region. Numerical results show that the proposed H-RAQR supports four simultaneous RF channels within a single atomic system, achieves higher ergodic sum rate than conventional parallel Rydberg state (PRS) and cascade Rydberg state (CRS) receivers, and provides about 29% higher resource efficiency than a combined PRS-CRS deployment with equivalent four-band coverage. The proposed framework provides a scalable foundation for multi-band atomic wireless receivers.
Physical layer security (PLS) provides information-theoretic confidentiality for next-generation wireless systems, yet its practical deployment is fundamentally constrained by the sensitivity and noise characteristics of classical radio receivers. Recent advances in quantum sensing, particularly Rydberg atom-based receivers (RAQRs), present a promising approach to address these limitations. This paper introduces a Rydberg atomic quantum multiple-input multiple-output (RAQ-MIMO) architecture for secure multi-user uplink communications, where an array of Rydberg vapor cells functions as a high-sensitivity, reconfigurable receiving front-end. We develop a comprehensive end-to-end signal and channel model that incorporates quantum sensor response, wireless fading, and eavesdropper behavior under passive interception. To maximize the achievable secrecy rate, we propose a joint optimization framework that adaptively tunes key system degrees of freedom, including the Rabi frequency of the local oscillator, phase configuration, digital combining matrix, and user transmit power. Extensive simulations validate that RAQ-MIMO substantially outperforms classical MIMO in terms of secrecy rate across varying transmission distances, power budgets, and user loads—particularly under low-signal to noise ratio (SNR) and extended-range regimes. Our work establishes a quantum-sensing-assisted security foundation for future high-assurance wireless networks, bridging atomic physics with scalable communication system design with scalable communication system design under narrowband operation.
Rydberg atomic quantum receivers (RAQRs) emerge as a radical solution for detecting radio frequency (RF) signals, showing great potential in assisting classical wireless communications and sensing. However, the current studies of RAQRs mainly focus on realizing fundamental functionalities via experiments, where the results cannot be readily harnessed for assisting wireless communications and sensing. Moreover, the advantages of RAQR-based wireless receivers have not been fully characterized. To fill the gap, we introduce the superheterodyne version of RAQRs and present the associated end-to-end transmission scheme. We then develop a corresponding end-to-end equivalent baseband signal model relying on a realistic transmission flow. Our scheme and model provide explicit design guidance for RAQR-aided wireless systems. We finally verify the effectiveness of the proposed signal model with respect to the waveform of the photodetector, input-output relationship (transfer function), and the normalized mean-squared error between the nonlinear transfer function and its linear approximation.
Rydberg atomic quantum receivers (RAQRs) offer quantum-limited sensitivity and broadband tunability. It is not obvious whether this device-level advantage also improves network reliability, since in dense deployments, aggregate interference can push the atomic transducer out of its small-signal regime. This paper addresses the question by embedding the RAQR front end into a stochastic geometry (SG) coverage analysis. Starting with the atomic master equation and balanced coherent optical detection, we derive a third-order complex baseband model that retains both the linear gain and the leading cubic nonlinearity. A Bussgang decomposition converts the per-element nonlinear response into an equivalent linear gain plus a distance-dependent distortion noise. Using this equivalent model, we derive the post maximal-ratio combining (MRC) SINR and obtain tractable expressions for the conditional and spatially averaged coverage probabilities. The analytical results show that RAQRs outperform conventional receivers in sparse deployments. However, when the base station (BS) density becomes large, nonlinear distortion reduces this advantage and may make RAQRs perform worse. Simulation results validate the analytical expressions and confirm that the central design tradeoff is between linear gain and cubic nonlinearity.