Quantum Valley Ideas Laboratories

Purpose

The objective of the Project is to move Rydberg atom-based electric field sensing towards becoming a primary standard for radio frequency (RF) power in the MHz-THz frequency range. The Project will consist of three main components. First, QVIL and NRC will investigate three different electric field probes that QVIL has designed for metrology applications. These electric field probes reduce scattering and increase the uniformity of the measured electric fields inside of the vapour cell sensor. Secondly, the Project team will make precision measurements of the transition dipole moments between Rydberg states of Cs from n~35-150, where n is the principal quantum number. These measurements will improve the accuracy by over an order of magnitude. Thirdly, the researchers will carry out a precision measurement where Rydberg atom-based metrology probes are tested against calibrated antennas and calorimeters. Since the accuracy of the Rydberg atom-based sensors is superior to conventional standards, the vapour cell probes will be compared to each other as well.