Atom-based power-frequency electric field measurement using the radio-frequency-modulated Rydberg spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract The radio-frequency modulated electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a ladder three-level system with Rydberg state is studied. Under the influence of a fast radio-frequency field, the EIT peak splits into a series of sidebands. When attaching a power-frequency electric field directly to the fast radio-frequency field, the odd-order sidebands of the Rydberg-EIT oscillate sensitively with the power-frequency field. The oscillation frequency is equal to twice the power frequency; the oscillation amplitude is monotonically increasing with the amplitude of the power-frequency field when the change of Stark-shift is smaller than the radio frequency. Our work paves the way for the measurement of the power-frequency electric field based on Rydberg atoms.