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Laser Physics

Dispersion readout of micro-wave electric field using double-dark-state Rydberg atoms

Aihong Yang, Yandong Peng, Yan Xu, Min Liang

Published Feb 26, 2019• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract A dispersion probe of the electric fields of microwaves (MWs) is proposed using double-dark-state Rydberg atoms with Doppler effects. The MW field splits the atomic absorption spectrum, with normal dispersion at the central frequency. We investigate the sensitivity of the dispersion to the MW field strength. The numerical result reveals a linear relationship between the phase shift induced by the dispersion and the MW field intensity, which can be used to estimate MW electric field strength. Doppler effects can enhance the dispersion and greatly improve the measurement sensitivity. Our simulations show the probe sensitivity increases more than 10 times after Doppler averaging.

DOI
10.1088/1555-6611/ab036b

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Abstract A dispersion probe of the electric fields of microwaves (MWs) is proposed using double-dark-state Rydberg atoms with Doppler effects. The MW field splits the atomic absorption spectrum, with normal dispersion at the central frequency. We investigate the sensitivity of the dispersion to the MW field strength. The numerical result reveals a linear relationship between the phase shift induced by the dispersion and the MW field intensity, which can be used to estimate MW electric field strength. Doppler effects can enhance the dispersion and greatly improve the measurement sensitivity. Our simulations show the probe sensitivity increases more than 10 times after Doppler averaging.
Abstract A scheme for measuring microwave (MW) electric (E) fields is proposed based on bichromatic electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in Rydberg atoms. A bichromatic control field drives the excited state transition, whose absorption shows three EIT windows. When a MW field drives the Rydberg transition, the EIT windows split and six transmission peaks appear. It is interesting to find that the peak-to-peak distance of transmission spectrum is sensitive to the MW field strength, which can be used to measure MW E-field. Simulation results show that the measurement accuracy could be increased by about 4 times, and the minimum detectable strength of the MW E-field may be improved by about 3 times compared with the common EIT scheme. After the Doppler averaging, the minimum detectable MW E-field strength is about 5 times larger than that without Doppler effect. Also, we investigate other effects on the sensitivity of the system.
An active-Raman-gain (ARG) spectrum of Rydberg atoms is investigated and proposed to measure a microwave (MW) electric (E) field. A strong Raman field couples the ground-state transition with large frequency detuning, and a probe field drives the metastable transition, whose transmission shows a large gain. When a MW field couples the Rydberg transition, the gain peak splits. It is interesting to find that the frequency splitting of gain peaks shows a linear relationship with the MW-field strength, which can be used to measure the MW E field. Moreover, the ARG spectrum has a large peak value that is about 10 times larger than that of common electromagnetically induced transparency schemes. For weak MW fields, the Doppler effect will greatly narrow the gain spectrum if the probe and Raman fields copropagate through the atomic cell, which increases the probe sensitivity dramatically. After the Doppler averaging, the probe sensitivity is enhanced by about 10 times, and the linewidth is narrowed to 1/10 compared to the case without the Doppler effect.
Abstract We present a mechanism for improving the sensitivity of microwave (MW) electric field (E-field) measurement using dual-MW-dressed electromagnetically induced transparency in a 5 S 1/2 –5 P 3/2 –56 D 5/2 –57 P 3/2 85 Rb atomic coherent system. An auxiliary MW (A-MW) field is introduced into the MW E-field measurement system, which consists of a probe, coupling lasers, and a target MW (T-MW) field. When the A-MW field frequency is tuned to be the same as the T-MW field and its power is adjusted to a suitable range, the T-MW field strength can be read out effectively. Finally, the sensitivity of MW E-field measurement is improved by about two orders of magnitude compared to that without an A-MW field. In addition, this mechanism is proven to be applicable for all frequency bands covered by Rydberg energy levels. This work opens up a novel pathway for the realization of high-sensitivity MW E-field measurement with Rydberg atoms.
A scheme for the measurement of a microwave (MW) electric field is proposed via multi-photon coherence in Rydberg atoms. It is based on the three-photon electromagnetically induced absorption (TPEIA) spectrum. In this process, the multi-photon produces a narrow absorption peak, which has a larger magnitude than the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) peak under the same conditions. The TPEIA peak is sensitive to MW fields, and can be used to measure MW electric field strength. We found that the magnitude of TPEIA peaks shows a linear relationship with the MW field strength. The simulation results show that the minimum detectable strength of the MW fields is about 1/10 of that based on an common EIT effect, and the probe sensitivity could be improved by about four times. Furthermore, the MW sensing based on three-photon coherence seems to be robust against the changes in the control field and shows a broad tunability, and the scheme may be useful for designing novel MW sensing devices.
An enhanced measurement of the microwave electric (MW E) field by using intracavity Rydberg atoms is proposed. Based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), the intracavity atomic system exhibits two EIT windows, resulting in two narrow peaks in the cavity transmission. The peak-to-peak distance is sensitive to MW fields and can be used to probe MW E-field strength. Simulation results show that the detectable minimum strength of the MW fields is nearly eight times smaller than that without a cavity. Due to cavity coupling, the transmission spectrum is greatly narrowed, which improves the measurement resolution substantially. The numerical results show that the spectrum resolution is increased by more than 20 times. Furthermore, the cavity-enhanced measurement scheme seems to be robust against the changes in the control field strength and shows a broadband tunability.
We have shown that Rydberg states can be used for high-sensitivity, absolute sensing of microwave (MW) electric fields. We achieved a sensitivity of 3 μVcm-1Hz-1/2 for two read-out strategies. Depending on the spectral resolution of the read-out, either the MW induced transmission line frequency splitting, the Autler-Townes regime, or a change in the on-resonant absorption, the amplitude regime, can be used to determine the MW electric field. Results using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and frequency modulated spectroscopy both achieve similar photon shot noise limited sensitivity. In addition, we have also explored amplitude modulation and the displacement of a probe laser beam due to index of refraction changes in a prism shaped vapor cell. These latter methods were not able to achieve photon shot noise limited performance. Fundamental limits to the sensitivity of the Rydberg atom-based MW electric field sensing have been addressed, but it is important to clarify the differences between noise in different parts or subsystems of the sensor. Shot noise in the probe laser usually dominates the projection noise of the atoms participating in the measurement of the MW electric field because of the desire to operate at low effective Rydberg atom densities in order to avoid collisional dephasing and ionization.