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IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters

Deep-Subwavelength Resonator-Based Rydberg Atomic Receiver for HF Band Enhanced Sensing

Weipeng Wan, Yi Lin, Kai Yang, Ruiqi Mao, Aojie Zhou, Zhenke Ding, Yunqi Fu

Published Sep 25, 2025• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this article, we propose a new paradigm of room-temperature Rydberg atomic receiver for high frequency (HF) band sensing with high sensitivity. The proposed Rydberg atomic HF band receiver is implemented via a multilayered split-ring resonator (MSRR) and an atomic vapor cell. The MSRR is constructed by a five-layered printed circuit board within a deep-subwavelength size, providing a strongly enhanced electric field of the incident radio-frequency (RF) field. Using a quantum-optical readout of AC level shifts of field-sensitive atomic Rydberg states, the enhanced intra-cavity RF field significantly improves the sensitivity of the atomic receiver. In the measurement, we characterize the AC-stark shift in the frequency and power spectrum of the incident RF field. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the whole system is presented by utilizing the off-resonant Rydberg atomic heterodyne technique. In the absence of the MSRR, the sensitivity for an RF signal at 20.51 MHz was found to be 27.46 μV/cm √Hz. However, with the presence of our MSRR, the sensitivity significantly improved to 29.09 nV/cm √Hz, indicating a remarkable enhancement capacity of 944 times or 60 dB. This research holds great potential for high-sensitivity Rydberg atomic sensing, particularly in the HF band.

DOI
10.1109/lawp.2025.3614240

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arXiv:2202.08954•Applied Physics Letters•May 16, 2022•96 citations
In this article, we propose a new paradigm of room-temperature Rydberg atomic receiver for high frequency (HF) band sensing with high sensitivity. The proposed Rydberg atomic HF band receiver is implemented via a multilayered split-ring resonator (MSRR) and an atomic vapor cell. The MSRR is constructed by a five-layered printed circuit board within a deep-subwavelength size, providing a strongly enhanced electric field of the incident radio-frequency (RF) field. Using a quantum-optical readout of AC level shifts of field-sensitive atomic Rydberg states, the enhanced intra-cavity RF field significantly improves the sensitivity of the atomic receiver. In the measurement, we characterize the AC-stark shift in the frequency and power spectrum of the incident RF field. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the whole system is presented by utilizing the off-resonant Rydberg atomic heterodyne technique. In the absence of the MSRR, the sensitivity for an RF signal at 20.51 MHz was found to be 27.46 μV/cm √Hz. However, with the presence of our MSRR, the sensitivity significantly improved to 29.09 nV/cm √Hz, indicating a remarkable enhancement capacity of 944 times or 60 dB. This research holds great potential for high-sensitivity Rydberg atomic sensing, particularly in the HF band.
We demonstrated a new scheme of Rydberg atomic receiver tailored for high frequency (HF) band sensing with a deep-subwavelength resonator. The proposed multilayered split-ring resonator (MSRR) is constructed in a five-layered printed circuit board, providing significantly enhanced electric filed to greatly boost the sensitivity of the atomic receiver. In the measurement, we characterize the relationship between the AC-stark shift and input power. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the whole system is presented by utilizing off-resonant Rydberg atomic heterodyne technique. With the MSRR, the sensitivity can reach 4.3μV/cmHz\mu \mathrm{V}/\text{cm}\sqrt{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}μV/cmHz​, whereas it is only 240.8[μV/cmHz[\mu\mathrm{V}/\text{cm}\sqrt{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}[μV/cmHz​without the MSRR. The measured results affirm the substantial sensitivity enhancement achieved by MSRR.
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.
In this article, we propose a tunable multilayered resonator (TMR) to achieve broadband high-sensitivity sensing within a deep-subwavelength structure. The proposed TMR significantly enhances the incident electric field for Rydberg atoms, improving the sensitivity of the room-temperature atomic sensor. Additionally, by incorporating varactor diodes, the resonant frequency of the TMR can be dynamically controlled by adjusting the diode bias voltage. In the experiment, the TMR realized a 45.26% relative bandwidth, ranging from 13.19 MHz to 19.16 MHz. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the system reached 0.13 µV/cm/Hz in the presence of the TMR at 19.16 MHz, compared to only 24.59 µV/cm/Hz without the TMR.
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.
Highly sensitive detection of VHF band fields poses a challenge for Rydberg atomic sensing since resonant detection requires exciting atoms to extremely high energy states. We demonstrate a PCB-based electrically tunable resonator (PETR) for enhancing the sensing sensitivity of the Rydberg atomic sensor to VHF band fields. In this approach, the sub-wavelength PETR is made of PCB, which offers improved mechanical strength and miniaturization. During the measurements, a parallel-plate waveguide is utilized as the radio frequency (RF) fields launcher to eliminate unintentional scattering from the surroundings. By adjusting the bias voltage applied to the tuning varactor of the PETR, we can continuously tune the resonant frequencies from 187 MHz to 293.6 MHz, corresponding to a relative bandwidth of 44%. There is a fluctuation in the enhancement factor of the PETR, ranging from 17.6 to 60.1, which is primarily caused by misalignment between the laser beam and the resonant area. Furthermore, employing the off-resonant Rydberg atomic heterodyne technique, we investigated the sensitivity of the system. In the absence of the PETR, the sensitivity for a RF signal at 250.5 MHz was found to be 24.36 μV/cm√Hz. However, with the presence of our PETR, the sensitivity significantly improved to 433.26 nV/cm√Hz, indicating a remarkable enhancement capacity of 56.23 times or 35 dB. This enhancement resonator holds great potential for improving Rydberg atomic sensing, particularly in the VHF band.
We investigate the use of a split-ring resonator (SRR) incorporated with an atomic-vapor cell to improve the sensitivity and the minimal detectable electric (E) field of Rydberg atom-based sensors. In this approach, a sub-wavelength SRR is placed around an atomic vapor-cell filled with cesium atoms for E-field measurements at 1.3 GHz. The SRR provides a factor of 100 in the enhancement of the E-field measurement sensitivity. Using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with Aulter–Townes splitting, E-field measurements down to 5 mV/m are demonstrated with the SRR, while in the absence of the SRR, the minimal detectable field is 500 mV/m. We demonstrate that by combining EIT with a heterodyne Rydberg atom-based mixer approach, the SRR allows for a sensitivity of 5.5 μV/mHz, which is two-orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity than when the SRR is not used.