Synthetic Aperture RF Reception using Rydberg Atoms

Published

August 2, 2023

Author(s)

Nik Prajapati, Aly Artusio-Glimpse, Matt Simons, Samuel Berweger, Drew Rotunno, Maitreyi Jayaseelan, Kaleb Campbell, Christopher L. Holloway

Abstract

Rydberg atoms show great promise for use as self-calibrated electric field sensors for a broad range of frequencies. Their response is traceable to the international system of units making them a valuable tool for a variety of applications including traceable channel sounding. The Rydberg atom sensor is a small, often electrically small, point probe. Its detection volume is defined by the overlap of probing and coupling lasers, which can be as small as hundreds of microns. We present measurements of the beam-formed output of a horn antenna in the far field at 28 GHz. We move a Rydberg atom sensor over a synthetic aperture to obtain high angular resolution of the received signal and employ electromagnetic induced transparency with AC stark shifting and a local oscillator signal radiated onto the atoms for magnitude and phase detection at each location in the area. These results demonstrate the use of these Rydberg atom sensors in a synthetic aperture configuration and inform their eventual use for traceable channel sounding measurements.

Proceedings Title

Workshop on Signal Processing for Synthetic Apertures will feature tracks on Radar, Sonar, Medical Imaging, Optics, 5G/6G Communications, Quantum Apertures, Radiometry and Remote Sensi

Conference Dates

June 4-10, 2023

Conference Location

Rhodes, GR

Conference Title

2023 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Workshops (ICASSPW)

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSPW59220.2023.10193367

Local Download

Keywords

channel sounding, Rydberg atoms, quantum sensor, electric field characterization

Citation

Prajapati, N. , Artusio-Glimpse, A. , Simons, M. , Berweger, S. , Rotunno, D. , Jayaseelan, M. , Campbell, K. and Holloway, C. (2023), Synthetic Aperture RF Reception using Rydberg Atoms, Workshop on Signal Processing for Synthetic Apertures will feature tracks on Radar, Sonar, Medical Imaging, Optics, 5G/6G Communications, Quantum Apertures, Radiometry and Remote Sensi, Rhodes, GR, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSPW59220.2023.10193367, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=936556 (Accessed April 28, 2024)