U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Breadcrumb

  1. Home

Probing Bandwidth and Sensitivity in Rydberg Atom Sensing via Optical Homodyne and RF Heterodyne Detection

Rydberg atom based sensors allow for SI traceable measurements and show promise for applications in the field of communication and radar technologies. In this article, we investigate the bandwidth and sensitivity of a Rydberg atom-based sensor in a rubidium vapor cell using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectroscopy. We employ a radio-frequency (RF) heterodyne measurement technique in combination with an optical homodyne setup to extend the achievable range between sensitivity and bandwidth in a Rydberg sensor. While the bandwidth of Rydberg sensors are limited by the transit time of atoms and the Rabi frequency of the coupling field, achieving higher bandwidth through smaller beam sizes is thought to compromise sensitivity due to reduced EIT signal strength. Using optical homodyne detection, we demonstrate that sensitivity is preserved while achieving a response bandwidth of 8MHz. In addition, using the Rydberg sensor, we receive digital communication signals and present error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements
as a function of varying symbol rates and bandwidth of the Rydberg sensor. Furthermore, the sensor’s performance is compared with a conventional RF mixer. We establish that the bandwidth of a Rydberg sensor when receiving a pure tone is not the same as the bandwidth of the sensor when receiving a modulated signal. This difference results from the spreading of symbols in the frequency domain, leading to a reduction of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and an accumulation of noise over the total span of the modulated signal.

About this Dataset

Updated: 2026-09-19
Metadata Last Updated: 2025-08-25 00:00:00
Date Created: N/A
Data Provided by:
Dataset Owner: N/A

Access this data

Contact dataset owner Download URL
Table representation of structured data
Title Probing Bandwidth and Sensitivity in Rydberg Atom Sensing via Optical Homodyne and RF Heterodyne Detection
Description Rydberg atom based sensors allow for SI traceable measurements and show promise for applications in the field of communication and radar technologies. In this article, we investigate the bandwidth and sensitivity of a Rydberg atom-based sensor in a rubidium vapor cell using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectroscopy. We employ a radio-frequency (RF) heterodyne measurement technique in combination with an optical homodyne setup to extend the achievable range between sensitivity and bandwidth in a Rydberg sensor. While the bandwidth of Rydberg sensors are limited by the transit time of atoms and the Rabi frequency of the coupling field, achieving higher bandwidth through smaller beam sizes is thought to compromise sensitivity due to reduced EIT signal strength. Using optical homodyne detection, we demonstrate that sensitivity is preserved while achieving a response bandwidth of 8MHz. In addition, using the Rydberg sensor, we receive digital communication signals and present error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements as a function of varying symbol rates and bandwidth of the Rydberg sensor. Furthermore, the sensor’s performance is compared with a conventional RF mixer. We establish that the bandwidth of a Rydberg sensor when receiving a pure tone is not the same as the bandwidth of the sensor when receiving a modulated signal. This difference results from the spreading of symbols in the frequency domain, leading to a reduction of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and an accumulation of noise over the total span of the modulated signal.
Modified 2025-08-25 00:00:00
Publisher Name National Institute of Standards and Technology
Contact mailto:[email protected]
Keywords Rydberg atoms , atomic physics , receivers , fields strength , sensitivity , bandwidth
{
    "identifier": "ark:\/88434\/mds2-3975",
    "accessLevel": "public",
    "contactPoint": {
        "hasEmail": "mailto:[email protected]",
        "fn": "Dixith Manchaiah"
    },
    "programCode": [
        "006:045"
    ],
    "landingPage": "",
    "title": "Probing Bandwidth and Sensitivity in Rydberg Atom Sensing via Optical Homodyne and RF Heterodyne Detection",
    "description": "Rydberg atom based sensors allow for SI traceable measurements and show promise for applications in the field of communication and radar technologies. In this article, we investigate the bandwidth and sensitivity of a Rydberg atom-based sensor in a rubidium vapor cell using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectroscopy. We employ a radio-frequency (RF) heterodyne measurement technique in combination with an optical homodyne setup to extend the achievable range between sensitivity and bandwidth in a Rydberg sensor. While the bandwidth of Rydberg sensors are limited by the transit time of atoms and the Rabi frequency of the coupling field, achieving higher bandwidth through smaller beam sizes is thought to compromise sensitivity due to reduced EIT signal strength. Using optical homodyne detection, we demonstrate that sensitivity is preserved while achieving a response bandwidth of 8MHz. In addition, using the Rydberg sensor, we receive digital communication signals and present error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements\nas a function of varying symbol rates and bandwidth of the Rydberg sensor. Furthermore, the sensor\u2019s performance is compared with a conventional RF mixer. We establish that the bandwidth of a Rydberg sensor when receiving a pure tone is not the same as the bandwidth of the sensor when receiving a modulated signal. This difference results from the spreading of symbols in the frequency domain, leading to a reduction of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and an accumulation of noise over the total span of the modulated signal.",
    "language": [
        "en"
    ],
    "distribution": [
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/3975_README.txt",
            "mediaType": "text\/plain",
            "title": "3975_README"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig2.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig2"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig3a.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig3a"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig3b.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig3b"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig4.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig4"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_100kHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_100kHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_1MHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_1MHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_2MHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_2MHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_300kHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_300kHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_500kHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_500kHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_700kHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_700kHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig6_900kHz.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig6_900kHz"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig7.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig7"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig8a.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig8a"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig8b.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig8b"
        },
        {
            "downloadURL": "https:\/\/data.nist.gov\/od\/ds\/mds2-3975\/Fig9.csv",
            "mediaType": "text\/csv",
            "title": "Fig9"
        }
    ],
    "bureauCode": [
        "006:55"
    ],
    "modified": "2025-08-25 00:00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "@type": "org:Organization",
        "name": "National Institute of Standards and Technology"
    },
    "theme": [
        "Physics:Spectroscopy",
        "Physics:Atomic, molecular, and quantum"
    ],
    "keyword": [
        "Rydberg atoms",
        "atomic physics",
        "receivers",
        "fields strength",
        "sensitivity",
        "bandwidth"
    ]
}