An Atomic Receiver for AM and FM Radio Communication

Radio reception relies on antennas for the collection of electromagnetic fields carrying information, and receiver elements demodulation retrieval transmitted information. Here, we demonstrate an atom-based AM FM microwave communication with a 3 dB bandwidth in baseband ~100 kHz that provides optical circuit-free field pickup, multiband carrier capability, inherently high sensitivity. The exploits field-sensitive cesium Rydberg vapors centimeter-sized glass cell, electromagnetically induced transparency, quantum-optical effect, as readout signals modulated onto carriers frequencies ranging over four octaves, from C-band to Q-band. Receiver bandwidth, dynamic range sideband suppression are characterized, acquisition audio waveforms human vocals demonstrated. atomic is valuable technology because it does not require antenna structures resilient against interference, while affording operation single compact receiving element.