基于双本振里德堡原子的临界微波马赫-曾德尔型干涉测量
Critical Microwave Mach-Zehnder-Type Interferometry with Dual-LO Rydberg Atoms
AI总结：
本文提出双本振里德堡原子微波马赫-曾德尔型干涉仪，实现超0.1°相位分辨率、超25 dB灵敏度提升及微波传播距离、偏振高精度计量，简化系统配置，提供可重构量子微波干涉测量框架。
AI中文摘要：
微波场的高精度相位测量是无线通信、分布式雷达、等离子体诊断及天线计量等众多应用的基础。然而，现有基于里德堡原子的方法往往在相位分辨率、测量范围与系统复杂度之间存在权衡。本文展示了一种采用双本振（dual-local-oscillator, dual-LO）配置的基于里德堡原子的微波马赫-曾德尔型干涉仪，两个本振在里德堡介质中建立两条相干干涉路径，它们与信号场的相干混合产生由相位-强度传输特性调控的干涉中频输出，该特性可实现临界点增强。该方案支持直接相位检索，分辨率超过0.1°，且凭借可重构的双本振架构实现无歧义的全360°相位覆盖。此外，在临界干涉点附近，系统呈现急剧增强的相位-振幅转换，弱振幅变化被转换为显著的相位响应，灵敏度提升超过25 dB。同时，相同的干涉传输机制可用于微波传播距离和偏振计量，在5.7 GHz下实现传播距离精度低于20 μm，偏振角分辨率超过0.1°。该方法无需复杂的光学配置和锁相检测，为多功能高精度微波计量提供了一种简单、可扩展且可重构的马赫-曾德尔型量子微波干涉测量框架。
英文摘要：
High-precision phase measurement of microwave fields underpins a wide range of applications, including wireless communications, distributed radar, plasma diagnostics, and antenna metrology. Existing Rydberg-atom-based approaches, however, often face trade-offs among phase resolution, measurement range, and system complexity. Here we demonstrate a Rydberg-atom-based microwave Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer using a dual-local-oscillator configuration. The two local oscillators establish two coherent interferometric pathways in the Rydberg medium. Their coherent mixing with the signal field produces an interferometric intermediate-frequency output governed by a phase-to-intensity transfer characteristic that enables critical-point enhancement. This scheme supports direct phase retrieval with a resolution exceeding $0.1^\circ$ and unambiguous full $360^\circ$ phase coverage with the reconfigurable dual-LO architecture. Moreover, near the critical interference point, the system exhibits a sharply enhanced phase-to-amplitude transduction, where weak amplitude variations are converted into pronounced phase responses, yielding a sensitivity enhancement exceeding 25 dB. Besides, the same interferometric transfer mechanism enables microwave propagation-distance and polarization metrology, achieving a propagation-distance precision below 20 $μ$m at 5.7 GHz together with a polarization-angle resolution exceeding $0.1^\circ$. This approach eliminates the need for complex optical configurations and lock-in detection, providing a simple, scalable, and reconfigurable Mach-Zehnder-type quantum microwave interferometry framework for multifunctional high-precision microwave metrology.
