Lawrence Carslake
Fiber-coupled Rydberg sensors for traceable RF electric field metrology - Investigating traceable solutions for electric field measurements within the National Physical Laboratory
Rydberg atom-based electrometry offers a route to radio-frequency (RF) electric field measurement that is traceable to fundamental constants. This talk introduces the role of a national metrology institute in realising, disseminating and comparing measurement standards, and outlines how RF field strength is currently realised at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). It then sets out the atomic physics of the Rydberg readout and how the field measured by the atoms relates to the field incident on a practical, fibre-coupled sensor. Results from full-wave simulation, line-shape modelling and measurements at the NIST field-strength facility are summarised, indicating that the sensor assembly rather than the vapour cell dictates the overall measurement uncertainty. A non-contact measurement of the voltage standing-wave ratio of a coplanar waveguide illustrates a further application of the same atomic readout. The talk concludes with the open questions that remain and the programme of work for Year 2.