Determining angle of arrival of radio frequency fields using subwavelength, amplitude-only measurements of standing waves in a Rydberg atom sensor

Published

September 15, 2025

Author(s)

Rajavardhan Talashila, William Watterson, Benjamin Moser, Joshua Gordon, Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse, Nikunjkumar Prajapati, Noah Schlossberger, Matthew Simons, Christopher Holloway

Abstract

Deep subwavelength RF imaging with atomic Rydberg sensors has overcome fundamental limitations of traditional antennas and enabled ultra-wideband detection of omni-directional time varying fields all in a compact form factor. However, in most applications, Rydberg sensors require the use of a secondary strong RF reference field to serve as a phase reference. Here, we demonstrate a new type of Rydberg sensor for angle-of-arrival (AoA) sensing which utilizes subwavelength imaging of standing wave fields. By placing a metallic plate within the Rydberg cell, we can determine the AoA independent of the strength of incoming RF field and without requiring a secondary strong RF phase reference field. We perform precision AoA measurements with a robotic antenna positioning system for 4.2, 5.0, and 5.7 GHz signals and demonstrate a 1.7 degree polar angular resolution from 0 degrees to 60 degrees AoA and 4.1 degrees over all possible angles.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Pub Type

Journals

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Citation

Talashila, R. , Watterson, W. , Moser, B. , Gordon, J. , Artusio-Glimpse, A. , Prajapati, N. , Schlossberger, N. , SIMONS, M. and Holloway, C. (2025), Determining angle of arrival of radio frequency fields using subwavelength, amplitude-only measurements of standing waves in a Rydberg atom sensor, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=958959 (Accessed May 15, 2026)

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