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Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements

Satellite radio detection via dual-microwave Rydberg spectroscopy

Peter K. Elgee, Joshua C. Hill, Kermit-James E. LeBlanc, Gabriel D. Ko, Paul D. Kunz, David H. Meyer, Kevin C. Cox

Published Jul 8, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Rydberg electric field sensors exploit the structured multitude of electronic transitions between Rydberg atomic states. In this way, they can detect electric fields with frequencies spanning DC to THz. However, difficulty accessing resonant transitions at ultra-high frequencies (UHF, 0.3-30 GHz) and below hinders their applicability within this ubiquitous band of the world’s wireless communications infrastructure. We present a Rydberg electric field sensor operating in the UHF band using a resonant dual-optical dual-microwave spectroscopy scheme. This enables access to transitions with lower resonant frequencies, and higher angular momentum (L = 3→4), than those typically used in Rydberg sensors. We measure the resonant sensitivity of our system at 2.3 GHz to be 70(5) µVm−1Hz−1/2, 50 times better than the measured sensitivity with a far off-resonant probing scheme at this frequency. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this scheme by measuring Sirius XM satellite radio (2.320 - 2.345 GHz) received outside the laboratory and rebroadcast onto the atoms.

DOI
10.1109/cpem61406.2024.10646109

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Rydberg electric field sensors exploit the structured multitude of electronic transitions between Rydberg atomic states. In this way, they can detect electric fields with frequencies spanning DC to THz. However, difficulty accessing resonant transitions at ultra-high frequencies (UHF, 0.3-30 GHz) and below hinders their applicability within this ubiquitous band of the world’s wireless communications infrastructure. We present a Rydberg electric field sensor operating in the UHF band using a resonant dual-optical dual-microwave spectroscopy scheme. This enables access to transitions with lower resonant frequencies, and higher angular momentum (L = 3→4), than those typically used in Rydberg sensors. We measure the resonant sensitivity of our system at 2.3 GHz to be 70(5) µVm−1Hz−1/2, 50 times better than the measured sensitivity with a far off-resonant probing scheme at this frequency. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this scheme by measuring Sirius XM satellite radio (2.320 - 2.345 GHz) received outside the laboratory and rebroadcast onto the atoms.
Rydberg electric field sensors exploit the large number of Rydberg resonances to provide sensitivity over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, due to the difficulty of accessing resonant Rydberg states at ultra-high frequency (UHF) and below, ubiquitous bands in the world's current wireless communications infrastructure, they currently fall, short in sensitivity in this range. We present a resonant Rydberg electric field sensor operating in the UHF band using a dual-optical dual-microwave spectroscopy scheme. Adding an additional microwave photon allows us to access transitions between Rydberg states with higher angular momentum (L=3→4), which have lower resonant frequencies than transitions typically used in Rydberg sensors. We discuss the applicability of this type of sensor across the UHF band and below and measure the resonant sensitivity of our system at 2.3 GHz to be 70(5) μV m−1 Hz−1∕2, 57 times better than the measured sensitivity with a far off-resonant probing scheme at this frequency. We also show the effectiveness of this sensing scheme by measuring Sirius XM satellite radio (2.320–2.345 GHz) received outside the laboratory and rebroadcast onto the atoms.
Rydberg atomic electric field sensors have attracted the attention of international researchers due to their powerful electric field measurement capabilities. Especially in the shortwave (SW) frequency band (3–30 MHz), using only millimeter-level sensors to receive SW signals is undoubtedly attractive. However, due to the extremely difficult excitation of the Rydberg atoms that resonate with the SW frequency, the sensitivity of the Rydberg atoms SW measurement is low. Here, we report that a method to improve the SW sensitivity by using an SW resonator, which is extremely small in electrical size ($0.0043\lambda \times 0.0035\lambda \times 0.007\lambda $), can achieve continuous resonant frequency coverage from 9.365 to 10.223 MHz and can increase the sensitivity of electric field measurement by a factor of 8633. In the state of far off-resonant, we have achieved a detectable field strength as low as$2.41~\mu $V/m with a sensitivity of$1.71~\mu V/mHzV/mHzV/mHz^{1/2}$using the heterodyne Rydberg atom-based mixer method, which realizes ultrahigh-sensitivity measurement of SWs. In addition, for the first time outside the laboratory, we directly received an amplitude-modulated broadcast signal with 880 km (the straight-line distance between Changsha and Baoji) at 9.81 MHz in the form of a subminiature resonator combined with a Rydberg field probe (RFP), which verified the powerful ability of this sensing scheme.
Detecting microwave signals over a wide frequency range has numerous advantages as it enables simultaneous transmission of a large amount of information, and access to more spectrum resources. This capability is crucial for applications such as microwave communication, remote sensing, and radar. However, conventional microwave receiving systems are limited by amplifiers and band-pass filters that can only operate efficiently in a specific frequency range. Typically, these systems can only process signals within a three-fold frequency range, which limits the data transfer bandwidth of the microwave communication systems. Developing novel atom-integrated microwave sensors, for example, radio frequency (RF)-chip coupled Rydberg atomic receiver, provides opportunities for a large working bandwidth of microwave sensing at the atomic level. Here, an ultra-wide dual-band RF sensing scheme is demonstrated by space-division multiplexing two RF-chip-integrated atomic receiver modules. The system can simultaneously receive dual-band microwave signals that span a frequency range exceeding 6 octaves (300 MHz and 24 GHz). This work paves the way for multi-band microwave reception applications within an ultra-wide range by RF-chip-integrated Rydberg atomic sensor.
We demonstrate simultaneous detection of radio-frequency (rf) fields ranging from the very high-frequency (VHF) band (128 MHz) to terahertz frequencies (0.61 THz) using high-orbital-angular-momentum ( ℓ ) states in a caesium Rydberg-atom receiver. rf fields are applied concurrently to a series of atomic transitions, where the application of each field allows access to the next-highest ℓ state and the energy separations between states become progressively smaller, allowing access to a very wide range of radio frequencies. We show that the optical response of the system in the presence of the rf fields can be reproduced theoretically using a simple Lindblad-master-equation approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally that a series of amplitude-modulated tones can be detected simultaneously using a wide range of carrier frequencies. This demonstration opens the way for Rydberg receivers to access low-frequency rf bands at low principal quantum number and allows for communications across multiple bands simultaneously using a single optical receiver. Moreover, the experimental method presented allows for high-resolution spectroscopy of high-orbital-angular-momentum states in alkali-metal atoms. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Highly sensitive detection of microwave (MW) fields throughout ultra-wideband spectrum is always an important subject in metrology, electromagnetism and cosmology. Rydberg atomic electrometers, which implement electric field measurements by detecting the disturbance of atomic energy levels, have the potentials to breakthrough the sensitivity and size limits of conventional sensors. However, due to the discrete structure of the energy levels, current measurements can only exhibit high sensitivity at the discontinuous frequencies which correspond to certain transitions. In this work, by implementing energy level modulation of Rydberg atom through Zeeman effect, we achieve continuous highly sensitive MW fields detection within 1-40 GHz ultra-wideband spectrum where the detection sensitivity is roundly below 65 nV cm-1 Hz-1/2, which is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than that of the state-of-the-art continuous measurement architectures. The proposed method is expected to expand the working bandwidth from MHz to THz and therefore greatly accelerate the practical applications in the areas of radar and electronic reconnaissance. Detecting microwave fields across an ultra-wideband spectrum is crucial for advancements in metrology, electromagnetism, and cosmology. Here, the authors utilize Zeeman effect modulation of Rydberg atoms to achieve continuous, highly sensitive detection from 1-40 GHz, significantly enhancing sensitivity and potentially transforming radar and electronic reconnaissance applications.