A High-Efficiency Fiber-Coupled Rydberg-Atom Integrated Probe and Its Imaging Applications

Abstract

Atomic sensing and electric field measurements based on the use of the all-optical electromagnetic induction transparency (EIT) spectrum of Rydberg atoms have attracted great interest due to the advantages of self-calibration, Le Système International d'unités traceability, and a broadband spectrum. At the same time, this methodology also promotes the development of atomic sensor technology. We present a novel high-efficiency Rydberg-atom radio-frequency (RF) electric (E) field integrated probe (Rydberg Field Probe or RFP). The high-efficiency RFP consists of a 10 mm cubic 133Cs vapor cell, a dichroic mirror, three collimating lenses, and three fibers. This system can be used to independently control two counterpropagating lasers passing through a vapor cell, easing the design effort. In addition, the overall system efficiency can reach a value of 40.4%, reducing the EIT power broadening doe conventional RFPs. Based on the designed high-efficiency RFP, near-field electric field measurement and imaging of a C-band horn antenna at 4.48 GHz are performed by using the resonant RF field of the 133Cs atomic Rydberg state at room temperature with a spatial resolution of λ/6. These results promote the development of atomic sensing technology and show great application potential for the measurement of measuring high-resolution radio frequency electric fields and arrays of RFPs.