Work

Magnetically tuned single-Zeeman-sublevel Rydberg EIT of a 87 Rb 38F state for resonant L-band microwave electric field sensing

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We report the Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra of the 87 Rb 5 S 1/2 → 5 P 3/2 → 5 D 5/2 → 38 F 7/2 transition in a vapor cell with a DC magnetic field and demonstrate its use for tunable, resonant L-band microwave electric field detection via the Autler-Townes (AT) splitting. Compared to conventional two-photon Rydberg excitation, three-photon EIT exhibits a markedly richer and more intricate spectral structure resulting from extra transition pathways under a DC magnetic field. Under copropagating linearly-polarized optical fields and a static magnetic field, we resolve as many as eight distinct EIT peaks and extract their linear Zeeman-shift coefficients. The measured Zeeman-shifts are all in agreement with the predictions of a simple analytical equation. More interestingly, we demonstrate a single-Zeeman-sublevel Rydberg excitation using three-photon EIT with circular light fields and a quantization axis. We subsequently exploit single-Zeeman-sublevel Rydberg-EIT at the low principal quantum number n = 38 to perform a tunable, resonant EIT–AT measurement of 1.5 GHz (L-band) microwave electric fields. The observed characteristics confirm that L-band microwave measurement via three-photon excited low- n F Rydberg states is advantageous by avoiding the autoionization and high laser power demands of two-photon excited high- n Rydberg states.

Source: Optics Express

DOI: 10.1364/oe.583439