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URSI Atlantic Radio Science Conference

Quantum Phenomena driven SI Traceable E-Field Measurement of Broadband Stripline

Monika Thakran, Aijaz Ahmed, Satya Kesh Dubey

Published Jan 1, 2024• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

In this work, microwave E-field strength measurement of a broadband stripline at 13.433 GHz has been reported using Rydberg atom-based EIT-ATS quantum phenomenon.It is based on the interference created by microwave and optical photons between the Rb 85 transition states.In this technique, microwave photons interact with the Rydberg states of Rb 85 atoms, which are very sensitive to very weak electric fields.Here, the E-field generated by a stripline is measured using an SI traceable atomic sensor by varying the power from microwatt order to mW order.For RF transition between the Rydberg atoms, instead of horn antenna use of stripline is proposed due to homogeneity in field uniformity, minimum losses and minimum interference to environment.E-Field strength measured in term of Rabi split could be more quantified using stripline due to minimum transmission loss, and higher field uniformity and broadband behavior.The reported results show linearity between the square root of power applied and the measured E-field with R-square value of 0.99861.The minimum detected E-field generated by the stripline is 1.62mV/cm corresponding to a power of 5μW.This broadband strip line can be used as Local oscillator (LO, from 10 GHz to 50 GHz) in a Rydberg atom-based wave mixing application due to its homogeneous and accurately defined field values instead of any free space radiators.This study will enhance the sensitivity of SI-traceable Rydberg atom-based E-field sensors and Rydberg atombased receivers.

DOI
10.46620/ursiatrasc24/sjdc5824

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In this work, microwave E-field strength measurement of a broadband stripline at 13.433 GHz has been reported using Rydberg atom-based EIT-ATS quantum phenomenon.It is based on the interference created by microwave and optical photons between the Rb 85 transition states.In this technique, microwave photons interact with the Rydberg states of Rb 85 atoms, which are very sensitive to very weak electric fields.Here, the E-field generated by a stripline is measured using an SI traceable atomic sensor by varying the power from microwatt order to mW order.For RF transition between the Rydberg atoms, instead of horn antenna use of stripline is proposed due to homogeneity in field uniformity, minimum losses and minimum interference to environment.E-Field strength measured in term of Rabi split could be more quantified using stripline due to minimum transmission loss, and higher field uniformity and broadband behavior.The reported results show linearity between the square root of power applied and the measured E-field with R-square value of 0.99861.The minimum detected E-field generated by the stripline is 1.62mV/cm corresponding to a power of 5μW.This broadband strip line can be used as Local oscillator (LO, from 10 GHz to 50 GHz) in a Rydberg atom-based wave mixing application due to its homogeneous and accurately defined field values instead of any free space radiators.This study will enhance the sensitivity of SI-traceable Rydberg atom-based E-field sensors and Rydberg atombased receivers.
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.
In this work, the theoretical and measurement results have been reported of microwave E-field sensing using an atomic spectroscopy instead of conventional methods (using antennae) under practice till date. This method is based on interaction of microwave with the Rb atoms excited to the Rydberg states by using two laser beams. This significantly new technique may get accepted internationally as a new primary standard for accurate and precise measurements of various Radio-Frequency parameters such as E-field, power, radiation pressure etc as it provides traceability to physical constants and SI units. The atomic model is also studied theoretically and Optical Bloch equations of the same are reported. It has been shown that microwave E-field strength is measured by studying the frequency difference between the peaks in laser transmission curve. The ability of atoms to sense E-field is shown by varying the power and distance of the antenna from atomic cell. In addition, results are shown for weak RF field detection by detuning the RF field by MHz order.
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.
Accurate calibration of electromagnetic field strength in the terahertz (THz) frequency regime remains challenging due to the limited availability of SI-traceable field sensors. Here we demonstrate SI-traceable calibration and performance benchmarking of a commercial photomixer-based THz transmitter-receiver system operating near 204 GHz using Rydberg electric-field sensing in a thermal atomic vapor. The THz electric field is extracted from the Autler-Townes (AT) effect of the cesium 17D5/2→18P3/217D_{5/2}\rightarrow18P_{3/2}17D5/2​→18P3/2​ Rydberg transition. We measure the strength of AT-split lines as a function of THz detuning from resonance to find the on-resonant Rabi frequency, which, together with atomic transition dipole moments and fundamental constants, yields the THz electric field. The atomically measured field calibrates the photomixer transmitter field and power, while simultaneous measurements with a commercial InGaAs photomixer receiver calibrate the receiver's current-to-field responsivity and convert its current-noise floor into an absolute noise-equivalent THz electric-field sensitivity. Our study demonstrates that Rydberg atomic sensors provide a practical method for SI-traceable calibration and benchmarking of THz transmitter and receiver systems, and for the establishment of a quantitative link between state-of-the-art and absolute atom-based THz sensors.
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.
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.