Quantum scaling atomic superheterodyne receiver

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the measurement sensitivity of Rydberg atomic superheterodyne receivers scales with atom number, revealing a quantum scaling law and discussing factors affecting sensitivity in atom-based quantum measurements.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of sensitivity scaling in atomic superheterodyne receivers and discusses non-ideal factors influencing measurement precision.

Findings

Sensitivity scales inversely with the square root of atom number

Output signal amplitude is proportional to atom number

Read-out noise amplitude is proportional to the square root of atom number

Abstract

Measurement sensitivity is one of the critical indicators for Rydberg atomic radio receivers. This work quantitatively studies the relationship between the atomic superheterodyne receiver's sensitivity and the number of atoms involved in the measurement. The atom number is changed by adjusting the length of the interaction area. The results show that for the ideal case, the sensitivity of the atomic superheterodyne receiver exhibits a quantum scaling: the amplitude of its output signal is proportional to the atom number, and the amplitude of its read-out noise is proportional to the square root of the atom number. Hence, its sensitivity is inversely proportional to the square root of the atom number. This work also gives a detailed discussion of the properties of transit noise in atomic receivers and the influence of some non-ideal factors on sensitivity scaling. This work is significant in the field of atom-based quantum precision measurements.