Instantaneous Bandwidth Expansion of a Gradient Magnetic Field-Enhanced Rydberg Atomic Receiver

The application of magnetic fields for frequency tuning of Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in Rydberg electrometry has been experimentally demonstrated. In this article, we provide a theoretical understanding of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) signals with gradient magnetic fields and demonstrate some advantages of this technology compared to traditional Rydberg electrometry. Our experiments demonstrate that customized Anti-Helmholtz coil configurations enable Zee-man splitting (<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">mJ</i> level separation) and state dressing in Rydberg atoms, yielding broadband EIT-AT spectra. Additionally, We investigated the response bandwidth of a Rydberg atomic receiver in a superheterodyne architecture. We proposed a gradient vector magnetic field configuration that extends the system’s instantaneous bandwidth to MHz, while achieving a sensitivity of 53 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">nV cm</i><sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">–1</sup><italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Hz</i><sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">–1/2</sup> comparable to conventional schemes. Our work is expected to expand the application of Rydberg atoms in multiple fields such as electronic information, communication, and electric field measurement.