Self-locked Rydberg atom electric field sensor

US12038465B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• The MITRE Corporation · US
• The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army · US

Inventors

• Charlie FANCHER · McLean, US
• Bonnie L. Marlow · Ashburn, US
• Kathryn NICOLICH · McLean, US
• Kelly BACKES · McLean, US
• Neel MALVANIA · McLean, US
• Kevin C. Cox · Jayne Mill, US
• David H. Meyer · Burtonsville, US
• Paul D. Kunz · Washington, US
• Joshua Cartwright Hill · Silver Spring, US
• William Knox Holland · Berkeley, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 11, 2022
• Grant date: Jul 16, 2024
• Expiry date: Mar 20, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R29/14
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A system for automatically locking a control laser in a Rydberg atomic sensor may comprise an atomic vapor cell, a probe laser configured to excite the atoms in the atomic vapor cell to an intermediate energy state, and a control laser configured to excite the one or more atoms in the atomic vapor cell from the intermediate energy state to a higher energy state. The light generated by the control laser may be dithered at a pre-determined frequency. The system further comprises a photodiode configured to convert light received from the vapor cell into an electrical signal, a lock-in amplifier configured to generate an error signal based on the electrical signal received from the photo diode and a received reference oscillation frequency, and a servo configured to receive the generated error signal from the lock-in amplifier and adjust a frequency of the control laser based on the received error signal.