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.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Corrections
28 October, 2026
Correction: Reference [3] contained incorrect source information and has been fixed.
