Simultaneous detection, demodulation, and angle-of-arrival determination of communication signals using a dual-ladder Rydberg receiver
Phys. Rev. Applied 26, 034064 – Published 28 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nvd9-9zs1
Abstract
In a typical Rydberg mixer, modulated communication signals are detected using a radio frequency (rf) heterodyne technique. The mixer outputs an intermediate frequency, which must be filtered and mixed down to baseband. In this work, we apply an rf-homodyne technique to simultaneously demonstrate baseband I/Q readout and angle-of-arrival determination of standard communication signals using a dual-ladder Rydberg receiver (DLRR). We also provide a systematic comparison with a conventional Rydberg receiver (CRR) (i.e., with a heterodyne-based receiver). While the signal amplitude of the DLRR does not decay with increasing symbol rate as in a CRR, direct conversion receivers are highly sensitive to low-frequency noise. As a result, the DLRR’s performance is degraded relative to a CRR when subjected to substantial pink noise. We show that both systems behave comparably once pink noise effects have been accounted for.
