RALFS – Rydberg Atom Low Frequency Sensing

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激发到“里德堡态”的原子来解锁其他方法所不具备的能力。里德堡态是原子的高度激发电子态，其中一个外部电子被踢入围绕其母核的非常大的轨道。由于这些轨道的大小，里德堡态的原子对电场和射频辐射非常敏感。近几十年来，激光科学和原子物理学的不断进步使得在实验室中探索这些状态成为可能。在接下来的十年里，我们预计基于这些技术的设备将作为电磁辐射的灵敏探测器在一系列关键应用中得到广泛应用。在这个项目中，我们将演示使用里德堡态的超冷原子来探测日益使用的“甚高频”(VHF)和“超高频”(UHF)频段的射频辐射的可行性。这将为现场部署设备铺平道路，显著减少标准探测系统的空间、光谱和偏振限制。

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.