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EPJ Quantum Technology

Local oscillator port integrated resonator for Rydberg atom-based electric field measurement enhancement

Bo Wu, Dunwei Liao, Zhenke Ding, Kai Yang, Yi Liu, Di Sang, Qiang An, Yunqi Fu

Published Mar 22, 2024• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Rydberg atom-based superheterodyne with additional local oscillator (LO) signal is a novel approach to detect electric field with high measured sensitivity. However, the LO signal is often supplied to the atomic vapor cell by free-space illumination, which lacks mobility and integration for practical applications. Here, we present a LO port integrated split-ring resonator for realizing high sensitivity-enhanced electric field measurements. The LO signal is sent directly to the resonator through a parallel-plate waveguide, which is shown to achieve a sensitivity enhancement of 32 dB. The integrated resonator has an electrical size of 0.088λ and the feed port S11 reaches −38.2 dB.

DOI
10.1140/epjqt/s40507-024-00231-3

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Abstract Rydberg atom-based superheterodyne with additional local oscillator (LO) signal is a novel approach to detect electric field with high measured sensitivity. However, the LO signal is often supplied to the atomic vapor cell by free-space illumination, which lacks mobility and integration for practical applications. Here, we present a LO port integrated split-ring resonator for realizing high sensitivity-enhanced electric field measurements. The LO signal is sent directly to the resonator through a parallel-plate waveguide, which is shown to achieve a sensitivity enhancement of 32 dB. The integrated resonator has an electrical size of 0.088λ and the feed port S11 reaches −38.2 dB.
Abstract Rydberg atom-based sensors using the atomic heterodyne technique demonstrate prominent performance on sensing sensitivity and thus have significant potential for radar, electronic reconnaissance, and communication applications. Here, we propose a local oscillator (LO) embedded field enhancement resonator to improve the sensitivity and integration of Rydberg atomic heterodyne sensors. In this approach, a vapor cell filled with cesium atoms is placed into the resonance structure for electric (E) field measurements. By integrating parallel-plate waveguide (PPWG) antennas and the resonator, the LO signal can be directly guided to the resonator using coaxial cable instead of the use of external antennas radiating through free space, allowing for a more flexible and practical Rydberg atom-based heterodyne technique. Based on the off-resonant Rydberg atomic heterodyne approach, for a radio frequency (RF) signal at 638 MHz, it is found that the sensitivity is 43 μ V/cm Hz\sqrt{\text{Hz}}Hz​ Hz in the absence of the resonator, while in the presence of our resonator, the sensitivity is down to 854.36 nV/cm Hz\sqrt{\text{Hz}}Hz​ Hz , indicating 50 times or 34 dB improvement capacity of the proposed resonator. This type of enhancement resonator is expected to benefit Rydberg atomic heterodyne applications in practical environments.
The Rydberg atomic heterodyne technique and resonant structures represent two prominent approaches that can notably enhance the sensing sensitivity of Rydberg atomic receivers in the atomic and microwave domains, respectively. However, current implementations exhibit low levels of integration, particularly in the VHF band. This article introduces local oscillator (LO) port-integrated resonators (LOIRs) to synergize these methods, aiming to improve sensitivity and system integration in Rydberg atom-based receivers. Through an analysis of the electric field distribution in the split-ring resonator (SRR), we developed two types of LOIRs: the standing wave type LOIR (SIR) and the traveling wave type LOIR (TIR). Experimental investigations were conducted at 264 MHz using a vapor cell containing cesium atoms in the resonators. Spectral measurements indicate that the SIR and TIR provide enhancement factors of 45.8 and 45.3 dB, respectively. When employing the SIR and TIR for Rydberg atomic heterodyning, sensitivity significantly improved to 104.34 and 105.54 (nV/cm)/Hz\sqrt {\text {Hz}}Hz​, respectively. Furthermore, in comparison to the SRR setup in the atomic heterodyne scenario, the LO power consumption decreased to 22.4% and 3.7% with the SIR and TIR, respectively. This research represents a significant advancement toward the practical application of Rydberg atomic receivers.
Abstract Ultra-wideband, miniaturized, and integrable local oscillator sources remain a key challenge for Rydberg-atom superheterodyne receivers. Here we demonstrate a 1–40 GHz Rydberg-atom receiver that uses a 76.3-mm-long, 1.6-mm-thick microstrip balun as the local oscillator. A load terminating the output port is used to enhance the balun near field and enable efficient coupling to the atoms. High-sensitivity electric field measurements based on the microstrip balun local oscillator are experimentally demonstrated at 9.94 and 19.63 GHz, achieving a lowest tested field of 0.79 and 0.49 µV/cm, respectively, compared with 0.40 and 0.39 µV/cm for a horn-antenna local oscillator. By combining resonant and off-resonant superheterodyne measurements across nine Rydberg transitions, we further demonstrate continuous-frequency electric field measurements from 1 to 40 GHz. These results establish the microstrip balun as a compact, broadband local oscillator source for integrated atomic receivers.
High-sensitivity amplitude and frequency detection of microwave electric fields is of significant importance in various fields, including communications, microwave quantum technology, aerospace, medicine, and meteorology. Rydberg atom-based sensors promise traceable standards and high sensitivity for detecting weak electric fields and enhancing sensing sensitivity, mainly by using superheterodyne technology and resonant structures. Detecting high-frequency (HF) band fields with high sensitivity using Rydberg atom sensors is a significant challenge due to the requirement of exciting atoms to extremely high energy states for resonant detection. We demonstrate the off-resonant Rydberg atomic superheterodyne architecture with additional resonators for greatly enhancing the sensing sensitivity to HF band fields. In this approach, we propose a miniaturized square spiral resonator with an electrical size of$0.011~\lambda $at 15.54 MHz. To reduce the electric-field-screening effect of the adsorption of alkali metal atoms, we use a monocrystalline sapphire cesium (Cs) vapor cell. By utilizing the off-resonant alternating current (ac) Stark effect, the initial sensitivity of the Rydberg atom sensor without the resonator is measured to be10.39 μV/cmHz10.39~\mu \text {V/cm}\sqrt {\text {Hz}}10.39 μV/cmHz​at room temperature. With the addition of the miniaturized square spiral resonator, the sensitivity significantly improved to2.60 nV/cmHz2.60~\text {nV/cm}\sqrt {\text {Hz}}2.60 nV/cmHz​, which has been inaccessible so far with atomic sensors. Here, we provide an enhancement of 72 dB, which is three orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity than when the resonator is not used. This enhancement resonator extends Rydberg atomic high-sensitivity sensing to the HF band and shows great potential, especially in shortwave radio reception.
Rydberg atom with resonators is regarded as promising atomic receivers to surpass conventional receivers’ sensitivity. However, previous research has presented diverse open resonator structures, focusing on design yet lacking in theoretical guidance. Here we bridge this gap by elucidating the fundamental principles of local enhancement in open resonators, which guides us to adopt positive countermeasures aimed at maximizing the electric-field local enhancement ability and avoid blindly modifications. To overcome limitations of injection-type cylindrical resonators, which require external antennas and lack mobility, we propose an enclosed T-shaped resonator (TSR) integrated within a vapor cell for direct C-band coupling. Simulations show that the enhancement factor rises from 27 times of the basic parallel-plate resonator (PPR) to 57 times of the TSR at the same resonant frequency. An experimental validation was performed with an TSR. The TSR has 32.5 dB at 7.83 GHz electric-field local enhancement ability and an electrical size of 0.18 λ. Previous Rydberg atom with resonators research has presented diverse resonator structures, focusing on finite element simulation design yet lacking in theoretical guidance. Here, Bo Wu and colleagues bridge this gap by proposing a local enhancement model, which guides the adoption of positive countermeasures aimed at maximizing the electric-field local enhancement ability and avoid blindly modifications.
The quantum microwave measurement technique based on Rydberg atoms has the significant advantages of traceability and self-calibration. To improve the measurement sensitivity of this technique, the electric field local enhancement structure based on microwave resonators has been proposed. However, most electric field local enhancement structures work only at a single frequency. In this paper, a dual-frequency electric field local enhancement structure based on double split-ring resonators (DSRR) is proposed. The simulation results show that the structure achieves 27 dB and 33 dB enhancement of electric field strength at 1.17 GHz and 1.74 GHz with local enhancement and uniform enhancement of the electric field at the cell, respectively. For experimental tests, it is verified that the structure has an electric field local enhancement effect at dual frequencies by the AC Stark effect and the superheterodyne signal reception method based on Rydberg atoms, effectively improving the sensitivity of quantum microwave measurements.