Highly sensitive atomic based MW interferometry

Abstract

We theoretically study a scheme to develop an atomic based MW interferometry using the Rydberg states in Rb. Unlike the traditional MW interferometry, this scheme is not based upon the electrical circuits, hence the sensitivity of the phase and the amplitude/strength of the MW field is not limited by the Nyquist thermal noise. Further this system has great advantage due to its very high bandwidth, ranging from radio frequency (RF), micro wave (MW) to terahertz regime. In addition, this is \textbf{orders of magnitude} more sensitive to field strength as compared to the prior demonstrations on the MW electrometry using the Rydberg atomic states. However previously studied atomic systems are only sensitive to the field strength but not to the phase and hence this scheme provides a great opportunity to characterize the MW completely including the propagation direction and the wavefront. This study opens up a new dimension in the Radar technology such as in synthetic aperture radar interferometry. The MW interferometry is based upon a six-level loopy ladder system involving the Rydberg states in which two sub-systems interfere constructively or destructively depending upon the phase between the MW electric fields closing the loop.