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arXiv · 1601.02535

Optical measurements of strong microwave fields with Rydberg atoms in a vapor cell

David A. Anderson·Stephanie A. Miller·Joshua A. Gordon·Miranda L. Butler·Christopher L. Holloway·Georg Raithel
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Abstract

We present a spectral analysis of Rydberg atoms in strong microwave fields using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) as an all-optical readout. The measured spectroscopic response enables optical, atom-based electric field measurements of high-power microwaves. In our experiments, microwaves are irradiated into a room-temperature rubidium vapor cell. The microwaves are tuned near the two-photon 65D-66D Rydberg transition and reach an electric field strength of 230V/m, about 20% of the microwave ionization threshold of these atoms. A Floquet treatment is used to model the Rydberg level energies and their excitation rates. We arrive at an empirical model for the field-strength distribution inside the spectroscopic cell that yields excellent overall agreement between the measured and calculated Rydberg EIT-Floquet spectra. Using spectral features in the Floquet maps we achieve an absolute strong-field measurement precision of 6%.

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David A. Anderson, Stephanie A. Miller, Joshua A. Gordon, Miranda L. Butler, Christopher L. Holloway, Georg Raithel. 2016-01-11. Optical measurements of strong microwave fields with Rydberg atoms in a vapor cell. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevapplied.5.034003

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