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IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters

Quantum-Based Determination of Antenna Finite Range Gain by Using Rydberg Atoms

Zhenfei Song, Zhigang Feng, Xinmeng Liu, Dabo Li, Hao Zhang, Jiasheng Liu, Linjie Zhang

Published Jan 1, 2017• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A novel antenna gain measurement method based on quantum interaction of highly excited alkali Rydberg atoms and radiated radio frequency electric field from an antenna under test is proposed in this letter. The method allows gain value to be determined by measuring RF field induced splitting frequency of an electromagnetically induced transparency window, antenna feeding power, and finite measurement range. The antenna gain measurement for a K -band standard gain horn antenna is presented to demonstrate the measurement setup and process, and the results are consistent with conventional measurements. The method is promising due to its advantages of simplicity, accuracy, and low cost. This work is of major significance for developing atom-based RF field and antenna characterization.

DOI
10.1109/lawp.2017.2652476

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URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium•Aug 1, 2014•0 citations
A novel antenna gain measurement method based on quantum interaction of highly excited alkali Rydberg atoms and radiated radio frequency electric field from an antenna under test is proposed in this letter. The method allows gain value to be determined by measuring RF field induced splitting frequency of an electromagnetically induced transparency window, antenna feeding power, and finite measurement range. The antenna gain measurement for a K -band standard gain horn antenna is presented to demonstrate the measurement setup and process, and the results are consistent with conventional measurements. The method is promising due to its advantages of simplicity, accuracy, and low cost. This work is of major significance for developing atom-based RF field and antenna characterization.
Antenna gain reflects the ability to concentrate input power and radiate electromagnetic waves in a specific direction, and is a key indicator for evaluating antenna performance. In this paper, a high-accuracy Rydberg-atom-assisted gain-transfer measurement method is proposed for Ku -band microwave antenna gain calibration. The microwave electric field (E-field) intensity is precisely measured via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Autler-Townes (AT) splitting effects. Under the same experimental conditions, the microwave intensity distributions of a standard gain antenna (SGA) and the antenna under test (AUT) are systematically compared, enabling gain calibration of the AUT at 12.007 GHz through the proposed method. Furthermore, a Rydberg atom microwave sensor with multi-level transitions ( nD5/2nD_{5/2}nD5/2​ - (n+1)P3/2(n+1)P_{3/2}(n+1)P3/2​ , n =50 ∼\sim∼ 55), is employed to extend the calibration over a wide frequency range within 12.694 ∼\sim∼ 17.041 GHz, achieving a measurement uncertainty below 0.38 dB. This work establishes a systematic framework for microwave device calibration, providing both theoretical support and experimental validation for precision metrology of high-performance microwave components.
Significant progress has been made in atom-based measurements of length, time, gravity and electromagnetic fields in recently years. Rydberg atom-based microwave electric field measurement, using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in room temperature alkali-metal vapors, has been extensively investigated and aroused the broad interest. This approach may establish a new standard for the measurements of microwave (MW) and radio frequency (RF) electric fields.In this review, we describe the work on a new method of measuring electric fields based on quantum interference by using either cesium or rubidium atoms contained in a dielectric vapor cell. Rydberg atoms with principal quantum number n >>1 have large direct current (DC) polarizabilities and microwave transition dipole moments, thereby making them extremely sensitive to external electric fields. Using the Rydberg three-level EIT to detect the level splitting and shift that is induced by the external field, we can realize a rapid and robust self-calibration method of measuring the electric field in a frequency range from 0.01 GHz to 1000 GHz. For the MW electric field (frequency range > 1 GHz), the MW field causes the Rydberg states to split, known as an Autler-Townes splitting (A-T) effect when the applied microwave can resonate with adjacent Rydberg states. The MW coupled A-T splitting is proportional to the applied electric field strength, from which the field strength is measured. Using the EIT window, a high sensitivity of 3 μV·cm-1·Hz-1/2 and small electric field of 1 μV/cm are expected to be achieved with a modest setup, and the limitations of the sensitivity are also addressed in the review. For the RF field at frequency mj EIT lines, and avoided crossings formed with the fine-structure levels of equal mj and different J's, which is used to calibrate and measure the RF field amplitude. On the other hand, the dependence of the EIT-line strength on the RF field polarization provides a fast and robust polarization measurement of RF fields based on matching experimental data with a theoretical simulation. The measurements of minimum strengths and sensitivity of RF fields based on Rydberg atoms are one order magnitude below the values obtained by traditional antenna methods. The atom-based field measurement paves the way for determining fields through calibration-free, invariable atomic properties and miniaturization. We also propose its various potential applications in the future.
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.
It has been proved that quantum coherence effects in highly-excited Rydberg atoms could provide a revolutionary solution for RF field measurement. A two-photon transition due to interaction of RF electric field with cesium Rydberg atoms will be discussed. RF E-field whose carrier frequency satisfies a two-photon transition can induce an Autler-Townes splitting within electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectroscopy, and the field strength is directly linked to the measured energy splitting and Planck's constant. Proof-of-concept measurement results will be presented, which also indicate the possibility of sub-wavelength sensing. This work is of major significance for developing quantum-based RF field metrology.
Rydberg atoms have been shown to be very useful in performing absolute measurements of the magnitude of a radio frequency (RF) field using electromagnetically induced transparency. However, there has been less success in using Rydberg atoms for the measurement of the phase of an RF field. Measuring the phase of a RF field is a necessary component for many important applications, including antenna metrology, communications, and radar. We demonstrate a scheme for measuring the phase of an RF field by using Rydberg atoms as a mixer to down-convert an RF field at 20 GHz to an intermediate frequency on the order of kHz. The phase of the intermediate frequency corresponds directly to the phase of the RF field. We use this approach to measure the phase shift on an electromagnetic wave from a horn antenna as the antenna is placed at different distances from the Rydberg atom sensor. The atom-based RF phase measurements allow us to measure the propagation constant of the RF wave to within 0.1% of the theoretical value.
We present a significantly new approach for an electric (E) field probe design. The probe is based on the interaction of RF-fields with Rydberg atoms, where alkali atoms are excited optically to Rydberg states and the applied RF-field alters the resonant state of the atoms. For this probe, the Rydberg atoms are excited in a glass vapor cell. The Rydberg atoms act like an RF-to-optical transducer, converting an RF E-field to an optical-frequency response. The probe utilizes the concept of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT). The RF transition in the four-level atomic system causes a split of the EIT transmission spectrum for the probe laser. This splitting is easily measured and is directly proportional to the applied RF field amplitude. Therefore, by measuring this splitting we get a direct measurement of the RF E-field strength. The significant dipole response of Rydberg atoms over the GHz regime enables this technique to make traceable measurements over a large frequency band including 1-500 GHz. We will show that, with one probe, measurements can be made over a very large frequency range. This is a truly broadband probe/sensor. In this paper, we report on our results in the development of this probe.