Electric field measurement and application based on Rydberg atoms

Abstract

Microwave sensing has important applications in areas such as data communication and remote sensing, so it has received much attention from international academia, industry, and governments. Atomic wireless sensing uses the strong response of the large electric dipole moment of a Rydberg atom to an external field to achieve precise measurement of a radio frequency (RF) electric field. This has advantages over traditional wireless sensing. The advantage of a Rydberg atom is its ultra-wide energy level transitions, which make it responsive to RF electric fields over a wide bandwidth. Here, we briefly review the progress of electric field measurement based on Rydberg atoms. The main contents include the properties of Rydberg atoms, measurement using Rydberg atoms, and experimental progress in electric field measurement in different bands. We show the different methods for detecting electric fields such as atomic superheterodyne, machine learning, and critically enhanced measurement. The development of Rydberg atomic measurement focuses on the advantages of Rydberg atomic sensing, especially compared with conventional microwave receivers. This is of major significance to developing Rydberg-based measurement in astronomy, remote sensing, and other fields.