Simultaneous Multiband Demodulation Using a Rydberg Atomic Sensor

Abstract

Electric field sensors based on Rydberg atoms offer unique capabilities, relative to traditional sensors, for detecting radio-frequency signals. In this work, we demonstrate simultaneous demodulation and detection of five rf tones spanning nearly two decades (6 octaves), from 1.7 GHz to 116 GHz. We show continuous recovery of the phase and amplitude of each tone and report on the system's sensitivity and bandwidth capabilities for multi-band detection. We use these capabilities to demonstrate a digital communication protocol, simultaneously receiving on-off-keyed binary data from four bands spanning over one decade of frequency.