基于里德堡原子的电场精密测量

Precision Measurement of Electric Fields Based on Rydberg Atoms

随着国防、天文及计量等领域的发展,基于金属天线和电子前端的传统微波电场测量装置的性能逐渐无法满足相关需求。基于里德堡原子量子相干效应的微波电场测量技术因其具有可溯源性良好、超宽带响应、高灵敏度、抗干扰能力强等优势,近年来得到了广泛关注。首先介绍了基于里德堡原子微波电场测量技术的基本原理,在噪声来源、灵敏度及频率选择性等方面比较了里德堡原子电场计与电偶极天线的性能,接着概述了基于缀饰里德堡原子的超外差接收机、基于超冷原子体系多波混频实现的微波-光子高效率转换以及基于微波频率梳实现原子天线瞬时带宽展宽等突破性研究进展,最后讨论了光外差测量技术在里德堡原子微波电场测量中的潜在应用。

With much higher demands in the fields of national defense,astronomy and metrology,the performance of traditional microwave antenna with metal conductor and the electronic front end need to be updated.Microwave electric fields measurement technology based on quantum coherence effect of Rydberg atoms has attracted extensive attention in recent years due to its’advantages such as good traceability,ultra-wide-bandwidth response,high sensitivity and high antijamming capability.The basic principle of microwave electric field measurement based on Rydberg atom is introduced,and the performance of Rydberg atom electric field meter and electric dipole antenna is compared in terms of noise source,sensitivity and frequency selectivity in this paper.Moreover,some important processes are summarized including the superheterodyne receiver based on dressed Rydberg atoms,high-efficiency conversion of microwave to photons based on six-wave mixing in ultracold atoms and the extension of instantaneous bandwidth using microwave comb.Finally,the optical heterodyne measurement technology in microwave electric field measurement of Rydberg atom is discussed.