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Optics Express

Large power dynamic range microwave electric field sensing in a vapor cell

Meiyu Ma, Sandan Wang, Yang Yan, Jinpeng Yuan, Linjie Zhang, Lirong Wang, Liantuan Xiao, Suotang Jia

Published Sep 2, 2024• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Sensing of the microwave (MW) electric field with high accuracy and large power dynamic range has assisted in the implementation of metrology and communication. Here, an atom−based MW sensing system with a large linear power dynamic range for an electric field in the C band of 6.835 GHz is demonstrated in a vapor cell. The Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra involving 53 D 5/2 state are employed to measure the medium intensity electric field by AC stark effect. On this basis, the heterodyne method, adding an auxiliary local oscillator (LO) MW field as a gain, is employed to measure the weak electric field. Finally, the strong electric field sensing is achieved by the atomic Rabi resonance when the coupling laser is turned off. As a result, the MW electric field measurements with a large linear power dynamic range of 101.6 dB are reached in a vapor cell by using multi−cooperative measurement methods. This work provides an effective approach for realizing the quantum MW sensing with high sensitivity and large power dynamic range.

DOI
10.1364/oe.537843

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Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2018•7 citations
Sensing of the microwave (MW) electric field with high accuracy and large power dynamic range has assisted in the implementation of metrology and communication. Here, an atom−based MW sensing system with a large linear power dynamic range for an electric field in the C band of 6.835 GHz is demonstrated in a vapor cell. The Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra involving 53 D 5/2 state are employed to measure the medium intensity electric field by AC stark effect. On this basis, the heterodyne method, adding an auxiliary local oscillator (LO) MW field as a gain, is employed to measure the weak electric field. Finally, the strong electric field sensing is achieved by the atomic Rabi resonance when the coupling laser is turned off. As a result, the MW electric field measurements with a large linear power dynamic range of 101.6 dB are reached in a vapor cell by using multi−cooperative measurement methods. This work provides an effective approach for realizing the quantum MW sensing with high sensitivity and large power dynamic range.
An atom-based approach is presented to detect absolute microwave (MW) electric fields (E-fields). The approach uses Rydberg atoms in vapor cells at room temperature. The MW E-field measurements utilize a bright resonance prepared within an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) window. The large transition dipole moments between energetically adjacent Rydberg states enable this method to make traceable E-field measurements with a sensitivity that is several orders of magnitude higher than the current standard for MW E-field measurements. The method can be used to image MW E-field in the near field regime with a subwavelength resolution of mathrmlambdaMW/650\\mathrm{\\lambda_{MW}/650}mathrmlambdaMW​/650, where mathrmlambdaMW\\mathrm{\\lambda_{MW}}mathrmlambdaMW​ is the wavelength of the MW E-field. A high accuracy of $\\mathrm{1\\%}$ has been reached by minimizing the effects of the vapor cell geometry on the measured MW E-field. The dissertation also presents an alternative technique to perform the MW E-field measurement using dispersive properties of the EIT spectrum with a prism vapor cell. Recently, we applied a homodyne detection technique with a Mach Zehnder interferometer to achieve a new sensitivity limit for the MW E-field measurement, mathrmsim3 muVcm−1Hz−1/2\\mathrm{\\sim3~\\mu Vcm^{-1}Hz^{-1/2}}mathrmsim3 muVcm−1Hz−1/2. The new sensitivity is one order of magnitude better than our prior best sensitivity presented in Ref. [Nat. Phys. 8, 819 (2012)]. The Rydberg atom-based method is promising to be a new standard for MW E-field measurements and to develop into portable devices in the field of MW technologies.
We demonstrate a method for broadband tunable continuous frequency electric field measurement based on the DC Stark effect in Rydberg atoms. In our experiment, we place a pair of parallel electrode plates inside the atomic vapor cell, utilizing the DC Stark effect to induce splitting and shifting of the Rydberg energy levels, thereby altering the resonance frequency of the Stark subpeaks. By employing the 52D5/2 Rydberg state, we achieve electric field measurements in the frequency range of 5.083–14.470 GHz. At an EDC of 3.45 V/cm and a resonant microwave frequency of 14.470 GHz, using heterodyne technology, the microwave electric field sensitivity is 538.89 μV/cm/√Hz, with a linear dynamic range of 23 dB. In comparison, a Rydberg heterodyne receiver with an EDC of 0 V/cm and a resonant microwave frequency of 5.083 GHz has a sensitivity of 5.43 μV/cm/√Hz and a linear dynamic range of 51 dB. This work will promote the study of atomic microwave receivers in continuous microwave frequency measurement.
We demonstrate a multi-parameter sensing scheme for free space microwave electric and magnetic fields in single vapor cell based on the atom-based microwave detection techniques. A weak probe laser though a rubidium vapor cell first acts as magnetic probe to measure the microwave magnetic field via atomic Rabi resonance of the ground state hyperfine transition. When another strong coupling laser is subsequently counter-propagated and overlapped with the probe laser in the same atomic vapor cell, the probe laser is then used as electric probe to measure microwave electric field by off-resonant microwave dressed Rydberg Autler-Townes splitting. We achieve measurement of microwave electric and magnetic fields without any complicated tuning methods at the clock frequency of 6.835 GHz. Based on the inherent relationship between microwave electric and magnetic fields, and their good linear response characteristics in respective suitable power ranges, the equivalent microwave magnetic fields are derived from linear fitting of the measured electric fields, which are in agreement with the calibrated experimental results within the same power range. This work provides an effective approach for extending the power dynamic range of atom-based microwave quantum sensors.
In this paper, we report an atomic oscillator in Ku band and its application for electric field (E-field) sensing with Cs Rydberg atoms in a room-temperature vapor cell. The oscillator is associated with the Cs Rydberg transition of 362D5/2– 372P3/2at 16.316 GHz which is generated with a two-laser double-resonance excitation. We characterized the energetics and the dipole moment of the Rydberg transition and used Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) and Autler-Townes (AT) effects for detecting continuous and amplitude/frequency modulated microwave E-fields. To enhance the oscillator’s response to weak signals, a superheterodyne technique was incorporated into the Rydberg oscillator system, which resulted in an improvement in the oscillator’s sensitivity by 100 times. Furthermore, our modeling shows that the Cs Rydberg atomic oscillator can be tuned to broad frequency ranges from MHz to THz for various RF applications.
We present an atom-based approach for determining microwave electric and magnetic fields by using a single rubidium vapor cell in a microwave waveguide. For a 87Rb cascade three-level system employed in our experiment, a weak probe laser driving the lower transition, 5S1/2→5P3/2, is first used to measure the microwave magnetic field based on the atomic Rabi resonance. When a counter-propagating strong coupling laser is subsequently turned on to drive the Rydberg transition, 5P3/2→67D5/2, the same probe laser is then used as a Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) probe to measure the microwave electric field by investigating the resonant microwave dressed Autler-Townes splitting (ATS). By tuning the hyperfine transition frequency of the ground state using an experimentally feasible static magnetic field, we first achieved a measurement of the microwave electric and magnetic field strength at the same microwave frequency of 6.916 GHz. Based on the ideal relationship between the electric and magnetic field components, we obtained the equivalent microwave magnetic fields by fitting the inversion to the measured microwave electric fields, which demonstrated that the results were in agreement with the experimental measurement of the microwave magnetic fields in the same microwave power range. This study provides new experimental evidence for quantum-based microwave measurements of electric and magnetic fields by a single sensor in the same system.
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.