Measurement of microwave polarization using two polarization orthogonal local microwave electric fields in a Rydberg atom-based mixer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel Rydberg atom-based mixer method for real-time measurement of microwave polarization direction within 0 to 180 degrees, utilizing orthogonal local fields and Zeeman effect for enhanced accuracy.

Contribution

The work presents a new technique for single-measurement microwave polarization detection using Rydberg atoms and orthogonal fields, including magnetic field effects for improved polarization discrimination.

Findings

First real-time measurement of microwave polarization within 0-180 degrees.

Utilizes two orthogonal local microwave fields and Zeeman effect for polarization determination.

Achieves polarization measurement accuracy suitable for microwave sensing applications.

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a novel method for measuring the polarization direction of a microwave electric field in a single measurement using a Rydberg atom-based mixer with two orthogonally polarized local microwave electric fields. Furthermore, introducing a weak static magnetic field enables the utilization of the Zeeman effect and exploitation of polarization asymmetry. This distinction allows for determining the polarization direction of the microwave field is{\theta}or180{\deg}-{\theta}within the 0 to 180 degree range. This is the first real-time measurement of microwave polarization within 0 to 180 degrees, crucial for microwave sensing and information transmission.