Microwave field sensor based on cold cesium Rydberg three-photon electromagnetically induced spectroscopy

Abstract We present the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra of cold Rydberg four-level cascade atoms consisting of the 6S 1/2 → 6P 3/2 → 7S 1/2 → 60P 3/2 scheme. A coupling laser drives the Rydberg transition, a dressing laser couples two intermediate levels and a weak probe laser probes the EIT signal. We numerically solve the Bloch equations and investigate the dependence of the probe transmission rate signal on the coupling and dressing lasers. We find that the probe transmission rate can display an EIT or electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) profile, depending on the Rabi frequencies of the coupling and dressing lasers. When we increase the Rabi frequency of the coupling laser and keep the Rabi frequency of the probe and dressing laser fixed, flipping of the EIA to EIT spectrum occurs at the critical coupling Rabi frequency. When we apply a microwave field coupling the transition 60P 3/2 → 61S 1/2 , the EIT spectrum shows Autler–Townes splitting, which is employed to measure the microwave field. The theoretical measurement sensitivity can be 1.52 × 10 −2 nV⋅cm −1 ⋅Hz −1/2 at the EIA–EIT flipping point.