RALFS – Rydberg Atom Low Frequency Sensing

RALFS — Rydberg Atom 低频传感

• 批准号: 10031691
• 金额: $ 40.76万
• 依托单位: COLDQUANTA UK LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10031691
• 关键词: RALFS; Rydberg; Atom; Low; Frequency

Microwave and radio-frequency electromagnetic field sensors are key commercial application areas for quantum atomic technology. These unique sensors use atoms excited into "Rydberg states" to unlock capabilities not available through other approaches. Rydberg states are highly excited electronic states of an atom where one outer electron is kicked into a very large orbit around its parent nucleus. Due to the size of these orbits, atoms in a Rydberg state can be extremely sensitive to electric fields and RF radiation. Over recent decades, successive advances in laser science and atomic physics have made it possible to explore these states in a laboratory setting.In the coming decade, we anticipate devices built upon these techniques to become widespread as sensitive probes for electro-magnetic radiation across a range of key applications. In this project, we will demonstrate the feasibility of using ultracold atoms in Rydberg states to detect RF radiation in the increasingly used "very-high-frequency" (VHF) and "ultra-high frequency" (UHF) bands. This will pave the way to field-deployed devices that significantly reduce the space, spectral, and polarisation constraints of standard detection systems.

微波和射频电磁场传感器是量子原子技术的关键商业应用领域。这些独特的传感器使用原子激发到“里德伯态”，以解锁通过其他方法无法获得的功能。里德伯态是原子的高激发电子态，其中一个外层电子被踢到围绕其母核的非常大的轨道上。由于这些轨道的大小，处于里德伯态的原子对电场和RF辐射非常敏感。近几十年来，激光科学和原子物理学的不断进步使人们有可能在实验室环境中探索这些状态。在未来的十年里，我们预计基于这些技术的设备将作为电磁辐射的敏感探针在一系列关键应用中得到广泛应用。在这个项目中，我们将证明使用里德堡态的超冷原子来检测越来越多使用的“甚高频”（VHF）和“超高频”（UHF）波段的RF辐射的可行性。这将为现场部署的设备铺平道路，这些设备可以显着减少标准检测系统的空间，光谱和偏振限制。