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Photonics

Exclusive Effect in Rydberg Atom-Based Multi-Band Microwave Communication

Shuhang You, Minghao Cai, Haoan Zhang, Zi-Shan Xu, Hongping Liu

Published Mar 19, 2023• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have demonstrated a Rydberg atom-based two-band communication with the optically excited Rydberg state coupled to another pair of Rydberg states by two microwave fields, respectively. The initial Rydberg state is excited by a three-color electromagnetically-induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions, with all of them located in infrared bands: a 780 nm laser servers as a probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→5P3/2, 776 nm and 1260 nm lasers are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2. Experimentally, we show that two channel communications carried on the two microwave transitions influence each other irreconcilably, so that they cannot work at their most sensitive microwave-optical conversion points simultaneously. For a remarkable communication quality for both channels, the two microwave fields both have to make concessions to reach a common microwave-optical gain. The optimized balance for the two microwave intensities locates at EMW1=6.5 mV/cm and EMW2=5.5 mV/cm in our case. This mutual exclusive influence is theoretically well-explained by an optical Bloch equation considering all optical and microwave field interactions with atoms.

DOI
10.3390/photonics10030328

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Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2018•14 citations
We have demonstrated a Rydberg atom-based two-band communication with the optically excited Rydberg state coupled to another pair of Rydberg states by two microwave fields, respectively. The initial Rydberg state is excited by a three-color electromagnetically-induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions, with all of them located in infrared bands: a 780 nm laser servers as a probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→5P3/2, 776 nm and 1260 nm lasers are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2. Experimentally, we show that two channel communications carried on the two microwave transitions influence each other irreconcilably, so that they cannot work at their most sensitive microwave-optical conversion points simultaneously. For a remarkable communication quality for both channels, the two microwave fields both have to make concessions to reach a common microwave-optical gain. The optimized balance for the two microwave intensities locates at EMW1=6.5 mV/cm and EMW2=5.5 mV/cm in our case. This mutual exclusive influence is theoretically well-explained by an optical Bloch equation considering all optical and microwave field interactions with atoms.
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.
A microwave electric field sensing has been set up based on a three-color electromagnetically induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions. All transitions are irradiated by infrared lasers: a 780 nm laser servers as probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→P3/2;, a 776 nm laser and a 1260 nm laser are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2, respectively. We find that a frequency detuning ∼2π × ( − 40) MHz of the 776 nm dressing beam prefers to a better signal-to-noise ratio for the probe beam. The off-resonance greatly depresses the double resonance pumping effect. A demonstration measurement for the electric field of microwave 1.18988 GHz, corresponding to the coupling resonance between two adjacent Rydberg states 44F7/2 and 44F9/2, gives a sensitivity of 55.79 ( 23 ) nVcm − 1 / Hz and a smallest discernible electric field of 78.9(33) nVcm−1 in time scale of 500 ms.
We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of the improvement and determination of the sensitivity of Rydberg atom-based microwave RF sensor. An optical Bloch equation has been set up based on the configuration that two-color cascading lasers exciting atom to highly Rydberg state and a microwave RF coupling this Rydberg state to its adjacent neighbor. The numerical simulation shows that the sensitivity of the atomic RF sensor is correlated with the amplitude strengths of the applied two lasers and the RF itself. It also depends on the frequency detuning of the coupling laser, which induces an asymmetrically optical splitting. The coupling laser frequency fixing at the shoulder of the stronger one is more favorable for a higher sensitivity. Accordingly, we perform an experimental demonstration for the optimization of all these parameters and the sensitivity is improved to 12.50(04) nVcm−1·Hz−1/2.
In this work, we present an nS1/2→(n + 1)S1/2 two-photon excitation EIT-AT spectrum of Rydberg atom in the vapor cell. A ground state (6S1/2), a first excited state (6P3/2) and Rydberg state (69S1/2) of cesium atoms constitute a three-level system. A weak probe laser locking to the transition of 6S1/2 (F = 4)→6P3/2 (F′ = 5) couples the ground-state transition, and the strong coupling laser drives the Rydberg transition of 6P3/2→69S1/2 to yield electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect, which realizes the optical detection of Rydberg atoms. Two Rydberg 69S1/2 and 70S1/2 levels are coupled with the microwave field at a frequency of fMW = 11.735 GHz, forming a microwave two-photon spectrum. To observe the influence of microwave electric field power on two-photon spectrum, we investigate the microwave coupled Rydberg EIT-AT spectra at different microwave fields. The measurements show that the EIT-AT splitting interval is proportional to the square of the microwave electric field at strong microwave field, and indicvates a nonlinear dependence at weak microwave electric field. The theoretical calculation accords with the experimental measurement. The work here is of significance in precisely measuring the microwave electric field.
We present a two-photon microwave spectra of cesium Rydberg atoms in the room-temperature vapor cell. The three-level atom including a ground state 6S1/2 (F = 4), an excited state 6P3/2 (F′ = 5) and Rydberg state consists of Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (Rydberg-EIT), that is employed to detect the microwave two-photon spectra. The microwave field with frequency ν DD = 11.42865 GHz couples the transition of Rydberg energy level |68D5/2〉 → |69D5/2〉, measured two-photon spectra display a rich of information including the microwave ac Stark shifts and two-photon Autler-Townes (AT) splitting. In the strong microwave field, the two-photon spectroscopy shows the state mixture between |68D5/2〉 and |68D3/2〉 Stark lines. The microwave two-photon spectra of the |69S1/2〉 → |70S1/2〉 transition coupled with frequency ν SS = 11.73503 GHz are also presented. The Floquet theory is employed to simulate the two-photon microwave spectra, showing the good agreement with the measurements. The work suggests the new method that may be used to investigate the multi-photon field-atom interaction and as an atom-based technique for precision field measurements.
We present an electromagnetically induced transparency and Aulter-Townes (EIT-AT) spectrum of a Rydberg three-level atom that is dressed with a microwave field in a room-temperature cesium cell. The EIT is a quantum coherent effect produced by the interaction of atoms with electromagnetic waves, which leads to the decrease of the absorption for a weak resonant probe laser. AT splitting refers to the phenomenon, that the absorption line splits when an electromagnetic field that is in resonance or near resonance acts on the transition of atoms. Rydberg atoms are extremely sensitive to an external electric field due to their large polarizabilities and microwave transition dipole moments, which can be used to measure the external field. In this work, a Rydberg three-level EIT is used to detect Rydberg atom and AT splitting induced by the microwave field. Cesium levels 6S1/2, 6P3/2 and 50S1/2 constitute a Rydberg three-level system, in which a weak probe laser locking to the transition from 6S1/2 to 6P3/2 couples ground-state transition and the strong coupling laser resonates on the Rydberg transition from 6P2/3 to 50S1/2. The two Rydberg levels 50S1/2 and 50P1/2 are coupled with the microwave field at a frequency of 30.852 GHz, leading to the AT splitting of EIT line and forming an EIT-AT spectrum, which is used to measure the electric field amplitude of microwave. In order to further study the EIT-AT splitting characteristics of the Rydberg levels, we carry out a series of measurements by changing the microwave field. The experimental results show a broadened EIT-AT signal for the weak field range and the four-peak spectrum for the strong field, which is attributed to the inhomogeneity of the microwave field. The microwave in cesium cell, emitted by a function generator, shows inhomogeneous behavior such that the atoms interacting with the laser field experience the different fields, leading to the line broadened and multi-peak EIT-AT spectra. For the microwave transition of nS1/2-nP1/2 in this paper, a pair of EIT-AT lines should be obtained for an electric field value. The broadening of the EIT-AT spectrum and the multi-peak structure here are due to the inhomogeneity of the microwave field measurement. We propose a method to increase the spatial resolution by reducing the length of cesium cell. The result in this work provides a method of measuring the field amplitude and monitoring the distribution of microwave electric field, meanwhile the spatial resolution of the measurements can be improved by reducing the size of the cell.