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Advanced Quantum Technologies

Amplification without Inversion Enhanced Rydberg‐Atom‐Based Detection of Microwave Electric Fields

Yingfan Wang, Zhengmao Jia, Jianfei Tian, Chenxu Wang, Bing Chen, Yandong Peng

Published Feb 1, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

ABSTRACT A quantum‐enhanced scheme for microwave (MW) electric (E) field detection is theoretically proposed, utilizing transient amplification without inversion (AWI) in cold 87 Rb atoms. It is achieved by modulating a continuous‐wave coupling laser into a periodic near‐square‐wave pulse, which enables precise control over quantum coherence and induces transient gain. Simulation results demonstrate significant performance enhancements of the AWI scheme compared to conventional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) approaches. In comparison, the AWI scheme shows 7.3 times enhanced transient transmission intensity. The reduction of the full width at half maximum from 0.54 × 2π to 0.15 × 2π MHz represents a 72% narrowing of the spectral linewidth, which enables superior spectral resolution and extends the range of measurable Autler‐Townes splitting. Furthermore, the minimum detectable MW E‐field strength of 172.8 nV cm −1 represents an order of magnitude improvement. The robustness of the AWI signal against simulated technical noise is also confirmed. The demonstrated capabilities establish AWI as a promising technique for high‐sensitivity quantum MW electrometry.

DOI
10.1002/qute.202500890

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ABSTRACT A quantum‐enhanced scheme for microwave (MW) electric (E) field detection is theoretically proposed, utilizing transient amplification without inversion (AWI) in cold 87 Rb atoms. It is achieved by modulating a continuous‐wave coupling laser into a periodic near‐square‐wave pulse, which enables precise control over quantum coherence and induces transient gain. Simulation results demonstrate significant performance enhancements of the AWI scheme compared to conventional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) approaches. In comparison, the AWI scheme shows 7.3 times enhanced transient transmission intensity. The reduction of the full width at half maximum from 0.54 × 2π to 0.15 × 2π MHz represents a 72% narrowing of the spectral linewidth, which enables superior spectral resolution and extends the range of measurable Autler‐Townes splitting. Furthermore, the minimum detectable MW E‐field strength of 172.8 nV cm −1 represents an order of magnitude improvement. The robustness of the AWI signal against simulated technical noise is also confirmed. The demonstrated capabilities establish AWI as a promising technique for high‐sensitivity quantum MW electrometry.
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An enhanced measurement of the microwave electric (MW E) field by using intracavity Rydberg atoms is proposed. Based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), the intracavity atomic system exhibits two EIT windows, resulting in two narrow peaks in the cavity transmission. The peak-to-peak distance is sensitive to MW fields and can be used to probe MW E-field strength. Simulation results show that the detectable minimum strength of the MW fields is nearly eight times smaller than that without a cavity. Due to cavity coupling, the transmission spectrum is greatly narrowed, which improves the measurement resolution substantially. The numerical results show that the spectrum resolution is increased by more than 20 times. Furthermore, the cavity-enhanced measurement scheme seems to be robust against the changes in the control field strength and shows a broadband tunability.
The microwave (MW) field can be measured by the Autler–Townes (AT) splitting of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum in the Rydberg atomic system; however, the EIT-AT splitting method fails in weak MW fields. We used the amplitude modulation of the MW field to resolve the EIT-AT splitting in weak MW fields. The EIT-AT splitting interval can be directly obtained, and the minimum detectable MW strength is improved by six times compared with the traditional EIT-AT splitting method. The proposed method is more intuitive and convenient for measuring the strength of weak MW fields in practical applications.
A scheme for the measurement of a microwave (MW) electric field is proposed via multi-photon coherence in Rydberg atoms. It is based on the three-photon electromagnetically induced absorption (TPEIA) spectrum. In this process, the multi-photon produces a narrow absorption peak, which has a larger magnitude than the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) peak under the same conditions. The TPEIA peak is sensitive to MW fields, and can be used to measure MW electric field strength. We found that the magnitude of TPEIA peaks shows a linear relationship with the MW field strength. The simulation results show that the minimum detectable strength of the MW fields is about 1/10 of that based on an common EIT effect, and the probe sensitivity could be improved by about four times. Furthermore, the MW sensing based on three-photon coherence seems to be robust against the changes in the control field and shows a broad tunability, and the scheme may be useful for designing novel MW sensing devices.
A theoretical scheme for precise measurement of microwave (MW) electric fields is proposed using a structured control field in Rydberg atoms. We use a Bessel-Gauss (BG) beam to drive the excited-state transition, its spatial structure characteristics result in a narrow linewidth of probe transmission, which benefits MW electric field measurement. It is interesting that the spectral linewidth could be further narrowed by increasing the azimuthal index. The minimum detectability of the MW field is about one-tenth of the common electromagnetically induced transparency scheme, and the spectrum resolution could be improved by about 40 times from simulation. Moreover, the system has good robustness.
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.