Rydberg Atom Electric Field Sensors for Communications and Sensing

Abstract

Rydberg atom electric field sensors are projected to enable novel capabilities for resilient communications and sensing. This quantum sensor is small-size, highly sensitive, and broadly tunable, and it has the potential for performing precision vector electric field and angle-of-arrival measurements. While these atomic electric field sensors will not replace traditional receivers in commodity applications for RF signal reception, these sensors could be an enabling technology in niche application spaces. This review outlines the principles of operation of atomic electric field sensors and compares their performance capabilities to traditional RF receivers. It also highlights recent research and development efforts in atomic electric field sensing and identifies applications for which these sensors are projected to impact communications and remote sensing.

A practical guide to electromagnetically induced transparency in atomic vapor

“…The future holds great promise for EIT in atomic vapors. There is a constant development of new paradigms, one recent example we have discussed above is electric field sensors based on EIT with warm Rydberg atoms [117,141]. Such developments are accompanied by technological maturation of miniature-cell fabrication [26,[142][143][144], which provides more robust, versatile, and compact platforms for EIT utilization.…”

“…Due to the long lifetime between an electronic ground state and a Rydberg state it is possible to obtain relatively narrow transmission resonances even in a thermal vapor [35,36]. Monitoring the transmission of the 'bottom' optical field of the ladder (E 1 in figure 1(c)), one can accurately track the energy splitting and shift of the Rydberg level, thus gaining information about external microwave or rf electric field [114][115][116][117]. The use of vapor-cell EIT-based Rydberg atomic systems has been also explored as an alternative technology for audio and video receivers [118,119], spectrum analyzer [120], SI-traceable standards [121], etc.…”

Optically pumped magnetometer with high spatial resolution magnetic guide for the detection of magnetic droplets in a microfluidic channel

“…In this direction, quantum technologies, jointly with nano technologies, have led to a new field of physics and engineering aimed at translating the effects of quantum physics into practical applications. Using solid-state quantum systems, atoms, ions, molecules, and photonic circuitry, one can design macroscopic but intrinsically quantum devices used for receiving dim signals [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], i.e. optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs).…”

Theoretical Investigation on the Mechanism and Law of Broadband Terahertz Wave Detection Using Rydberg Quantum State

“…At present, one detection method for the absolute intensity of THz wave is the thermal radiation detector, but the device is bulky and the response speed is slow (millisecond level); the other one is the semiconductor material detection method, whose equivalent noise power (NEP) could be at the order of 10 −12 [11]- [13], and the preparation process is complicated and costly. This paper proposes to use the Rydberg quantum state detection method to solve the above problems [14]. This technology uses alkali metal atoms as sensors, which can achieve accurate, real-time, high-sensitivity detection at room temperature.…”