Superheterodyne Rydberg S-band receiver with a multi-tone local oscillator based on an atomic transition loop

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel superheterodyne Rydberg atom-based S-band receiver that employs multi-tone mixing to eliminate the need for a local oscillator, enhancing practical application potential.

Contribution

It presents a new detection scheme using multi-tone mixing for Rydberg sensors, avoiding the need for a local oscillator and enabling all-optical, stealthy operation.

Findings

Achieved S-band operation without local oscillator interference

Predicted sensor performance using theoretical modeling

Demonstrated feasibility of multi-tone mixing in Rydberg sensors

Abstract

Atomic-vapor sensors based on Rydberg atoms now face a transition towards practical applications, with several outstanding challenges. To achieve the best sensitivities, a superheterodyne mode of operation is desired, which requires the presence of a local oscillator in the vapor cell. This local oscillator hinders several advantages of the sensor, such as stealthy and all-optical operation. We propose and realize a detection scheme, which avoids some of those problems by using multi-tone mixing, where direct usage of the local oscillator at the same frequency is not required. Our scheme is further elaborated on using efficient theoretical methods to predict the performance of the sensor. Our sensor operates at the S-band frequency, known for its usage in IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) networks, without interfering with the signal itself.