SI-Traceable Calibration and Performance Benchmarking of a Terahertz Photomixer Transmitter-Receiver System Using a Rydberg Atomic Sensor
Abstract
Accurate calibration of electromagnetic field strength in the terahertz (THz) frequency regime remains challenging due to the limited availability of SI-traceable field sensors. Here we demonstrate SI-traceable calibration and performance benchmarking of a commercial photomixer-based THz transmitter-receiver system operating near 204 GHz using Rydberg electric-field sensing in a thermal atomic vapor. The THz electric field is extracted from the Autler-Townes (AT) effect of the cesium 17D5/2→18P3/2 Rydberg transition. We measure the strength of AT-split lines as a function of THz detuning from resonance to find the on-resonant Rabi frequency, which, together with atomic transition dipole moments and fundamental constants, yields the THz electric field. The atomically measured field calibrates the photomixer transmitter field and power, while simultaneous measurements with a commercial InGaAs photomixer receiver calibrate the receiver's current-to-field responsivity and convert its current-noise floor into an absolute noise-equivalent THz electric-field sensitivity. Our study demonstrates that Rydberg atomic sensors provide a practical method for SI-traceable calibration and benchmarking of THz transmitter and receiver systems, and for the establishment of a quantitative link between state-of-the-art and absolute atom-based THz sensors.
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BibTeX
@misc{duspayev2026sitraceable,
title = {{SI-Traceable Calibration and Performance Benchmarking of a Terahertz Photomixer Transmitter-Receiver System Using a Rydberg Atomic Sensor}},
author = {Alisher Duspayev and Kaitlin R. Moore and Georg Raithel and David A. Anderson},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11887},
eprint = {2609.11887},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11887},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - SI-Traceable Calibration and Performance Benchmarking of a Terahertz Photomixer Transmitter-Receiver System Using a Rydberg Atomic Sensor
AU - Alisher Duspayev
AU - Kaitlin R. Moore
AU - Georg Raithel
AU - David A. Anderson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11887
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11887
AB - Accurate calibration of electromagnetic field strength in the terahertz (THz) frequency regime remains challenging due to the limited availability of SI-traceable field sensors. Here we demonstrate SI-traceable calibration and performance benchmarking of a commercial photomixer-based THz transmitter-receiver system operating near 204 GHz using Rydberg electric-field sensing in a thermal atomic vapor. The THz electric field is extracted from the Autler-Townes (AT) effect of the cesium 17D_5/2→18P_3/2 Rydberg transition. We measure the strength of AT-split lines as a function of THz detuning from resonance to find the on-resonant Rabi frequency, which, together with atomic transition dipole moments and fundamental constants, yields the THz electric field. The atomically measured field calibrates the photomixer transmitter field and power, while simultaneous measurements with a commercial InGaAs photomixer receiver calibrate the receiver's current-to-field responsivity and convert its current-noise floor into an absolute noise-equivalent THz electric-field sensitivity. Our study demonstrates that Rydberg atomic sensors provide a practical method for SI-traceable calibration and benchmarking of THz transmitter and receiver systems, and for the establishment of a quantitative link between state-of-the-art and absolute atom-based THz sensors.
ER -