Optically-biased Rydberg microwave receiver enabled by hybrid nonlinear interferometry.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41102148.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-63951-9 and PMC identifier 12531335.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Coupling a Rydberg vapour medium to both microwave and optical fields enables the benefits of all-optical detection, such as minimal disturbance of the measured field and resilience to very strong signals, since no conventional antenna is required. However, peak sensitivity typically relies on adding a microwave local oscillator, which compromises the all-optical nature of the measurement. Here we introduce an alternative, optical-bias detection, that maintains fully optical operation while achieving high sensitivity. To address laser phase noise, which is critical in this approach, we perform a simultaneous measurement of the noise using a nonlinear process and correct it in real time via data processing. This yields a 35 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio compared with the basic method. We demonstrate a sensitivity of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mn>176</mn> <mspace></mspace> <mi>nV</mi> <mo>/</mo> <mi>cm</mi> <mo>/</mo> <msqrt><mrow><mi>Hz</mi></mrow> </msqrt> </math> , reliable operation up to 3.5 mV/cm at 13.9 GHz, and quadrature-amplitude modulated data transmission, underlining the ability to detect microwave field quadratures while preserving the unique advantages of all-optical detection.