Rydberg-atom-based multiband frequency-hopping communication receiver using five-level atomic system

Abstract

A frequency-hopping communication receiver based on Rydberg atoms, whose carrier frequency changes in accordance with a predetermined sequence, is proposed for what we believe to be the first time and experimentally verified. Based on the coherent population trapping (CPT) effect of atoms, a five-level system is built under the assumption of a constant laser wavelength, where the carrier is the resonance band corresponding to different separated quantum states. Pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) and complex image signals undergo keying modulation to achieve frequency-domain hopping reception. In the experiment, a dynamic range of 62 dB is demonstrated. The digital transmission with a data rate of 1 Mbps is performed reliably, within a tunable bandwidth of 50 MHz, an instantaneous bandwidth of 700 kHz and a max hopping rate of 20000 hop/s. The proposed atom-based frequency-hopping receiver is suitable for secure communications, satellite uplinks, quantum cryptography, and high-precision scientific research.