An atomic receiver for AM and FM radio communication

TL;DR

This paper introduces an atom-based radio receiver using cesium Rydberg vapors that can demodulate AM and FM signals across multiple microwave bands without antennas, offering high sensitivity and interference resilience.

Contribution

The work presents a novel atomic receiver technology that eliminates the need for traditional antennas and enables multi-band microwave communication using quantum optical readout.

Findings

Achieved a 3-dB bandwidth of ~100 kHz in baseband.

Demonstrated multi-band operation from C-band to Q-band.

Successfully acquired audio waveforms of human vocals.

Abstract

Radio reception relies on antennas for the collection of electromagnetic fields carrying information, and receiver elements for demodulation and retrieval of the transmitted information. Here we demonstrate an atom-based receiver for AM and FM microwave communication with a 3-dB bandwidth in the baseband of $\sim$100~kHz that provides optical circuit-free field pickup, multi-band carrier capability, and inherently high field sensitivity. The quantum receiver exploits field-sensitive cesium Rydberg vapors in a centimeter-sized glass cell, and quantum-optical readout of baseband signals modulated onto carriers with frequencies ranging over four octaves, from C-band to Q-band. Receiver bandwidth, dynamic range and sideband suppression are characterized, and acquisition of audio waveforms of human vocals demonstrated. The atomic radio receiver is a valuable receiver technology because it does not require antenna structures and is resilient against electromagnetic interference, while affording multi-band operation in a single compact receiving element.