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Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II

Rydberg atom sensors: transforming measurements and detection of radio-frequency fields and communication signals

Christopher L. Holloway, Matthew T. Simons, Nikunjkumar Prajapati, Samuel Berweger, Andrew P. Rotunno, Alexandra B. Artusio‐Glimpse, Noah Schlossberger, Dangka Shylla, William J. Watterson, Eric B. Norrgard, Stephen Eckel

Published Mar 13, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The unique properties of Rydberg atom-based sensors allow for intriguing applications. For example, Rydberg atom receivers allow for the detection and receiving of time-varying fields and communication signals without an antenna and front-end electronics.
DOI
10.1117/12.3012383

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Atom-based measurements enable unprecedented accuracy and allow for direct International System of Units (SI) traceable measurements. As a result, metrology techniques and measurement standards have evolved towards atom-based measurements over the last few decades (time, frequency, length). Recently, there has been a great interest in extending this to magnetic fields, electric fields, and other physical quantities. The unique properties of Rydberg atoms allow for radio-frequency metrology and spectroscopy, leading not only to accuracy improvements but also to a range of intriguing applications.
Rydberg atom electric field sensors are projected to enable novel capabilities for resilient communications and sensing. This quantum sensor is small-size, highly sensitive, and broadly tunable, and it has the potential for performing precision vector electric field and angle-of-arrival measurements. While these atomic electric field sensors will not replace traditional receivers in commodity applications for RF signal reception, these sensors could be an enabling technology in niche application spaces. This review outlines the principles of operation of atomic electric field sensors and compares their performance capabilities to traditional RF receivers. It also highlights recent research and development efforts in atomic electric field sensing and identifies applications for which these sensors are projected to impact communications and remote sensing.
With the escalating development of the quantum information technologies, the Rydberg atomic receiver has been envisioned as a promising alternative to its classical electronic counterparts, attracting extensive attentions from both physics and electronic engineering disciplines. By exploiting the electrical acuteness of Alkali atoms with diverse Rydberg energy states for electromagnetic field measurement, Rydberg atomic receiver is capable of surmounting the inherent limitations on the operating bandwidth and detection sensitivity of the classical electronic counterparts. Against this background, this article provides an extensive overview of Rydberg atomic communication and sensing from fundamental theory, critical technologies to practical implementations. Firstly, the milestones of the Rydberg atomic receiver evolution was introduced. Then we provide a clear understanding of Rydberg atomic receiver mechanisms from the perspective of classical communication and sensing, and highlight the unprecedented advantages over traditional electronic receivers as well as the technical challenges. Afterwards, necessary fundamentals are presented including the Rydberg atoms, typical non-coherent/coherent structures, and explicit experimental configurations, followed by discussions on state-of-the-art development of the Rydberg atomic receiver. Specifically, advancements on electric-field detection methods for accurate measurement of amplitude, phase, frequency and polarization, are extensively investigated. Based on the established methodologies, recent innovations in Rydberg atomic communication and sensing are reviewed, ranging from waveform design and array-based signal processing to radar applications like localization, imaging and remote sensing, with practical experimental results presented. Finally, we summarize the promising research trends around Rydberg atomic receiver.
The highly-excited Rydberg states are with a unique property of radio-frequency (RF) resonance, and Rydberg atoms at room temperature are promising for developing a broadband RF electric field sensor and relevant metrology standards. In this paper, the working mechanism of an atomic amplitude-modulation(AM) radio receiver is investigated in detail, and various factors affecting the communication quality are discussed. The modulation RF signal can be directly retrieved by measuring the transmission of a probe laser at resonance of rubidium D2 transition using a fast photo-diode detector, without any conventional demodulation process. Various communication experiments are tested at a 10.22 GHz carrier, and a modulation bandwidth of 1 MHz and an acceptable data transfer rate of about 1 Mbps have been achieved using current detection techniques. Owing to a potential high sensitivity and ultra-broadband capability of free-space RF field sensing, the quantum receiver has great significance compared with conventional electronics-based receivers, including but not limited to a weak signal, long-distance, and broadband communication in free space or via a fiber link.