In this article we describe the basic principles of Rydberg atom-based RF sensing and present the development of atomic pulsed RF detection and RF phase sensing establishing capabilities pertinent to applications in communications and sensing. To date advances in Rydberg atom-based RF field sensors have been rooted in a method in which the fundamental physical quantity being detected and measured is the electric field amplitude, $E$, of the incident RF electromagnetic wave. The first part of this paper is focused on using atom-based $E$-field measurement for RF field-sensing and communications applications. With established phase-sensitive technologies, such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) as well as emerging trends in phased-array antennas in 5G, a method is desired that allows robust, optical retrieval of the RF phase using an enhanced atom-based field sensor. In the second part of this paper we describe our fundamentally new atomic RF sensor and measurement method for the phase of the RF electromagnetic wave that affords all the performance advantages exhibited by the atomic sensor. The presented phase-sensitive RF field detection capability opens atomic RF sensor technology to a wide array of application areas including phase-modulated signal communication systems, radar, and field amplitude and phase mapping for near-field/far-field antenna characterizations.

中文翻译：

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用于射频通信和传感的里德堡原子：用于脉冲射频场和相位检测的原子接收器

在本文中，我们描述了基于里德堡原子的 RF 传感的基本原理，并介绍了与通信和传感应用相关的原子脉冲 RF 检测和 RF 相位传感建立能力的发展。迄今为止，基于里德堡原子的 RF 场传感器的进步植根于一种方法，其中检测和测量的基本物理量是入射 RF 电磁波的电场幅度 $E$。本文的第一部分重点介绍将基于原子的 $E$ 场测量用于 RF 场感测和通信应用。借助成熟的相敏技术，例如合成孔径雷达 (SAR) 以及 5G 中相控阵天线的新兴趋势，需要一种方法来实现稳健、使用增强的基于原子的场传感器对 RF 相位进行光学检索。在本文的第二部分，我们描述了我们全新的原子 RF 传感器和 RF 电磁波相位测量方法，它提供了原子传感器所表现出的所有性能优势。所呈现的相敏射频场检测能力将原子射频传感器技术打开到广泛的应用领域，包括相位调制信号通信系统、雷达以及用于近场/远场天线表征的场幅度和相位映射。