High sensitivity measurement of ULF, VLF, and LF fields with a Rydberg-atom sensor.

Fields with frequencies below megahertz are challenging for Rydberg-atom-based measurements, due to the low-frequency electric field screening effect caused by the alkali-metal atoms adsorbed on the inner surface of the container. In this paper, we investigate electric field measurements in the ultralow frequency (ULF), very low frequency (VLF), and low frequency (LF) bands in a Cs vapor cell with built-in parallel electrodes. With optimization of the applied DC field, we achieve high-sensitive detection of the electric field at frequencies of 1 kHz, 10 kHz, and 100 kHz based on the Rydberg-atom sensor, with the minimum electric field strength down to 18.0 μV/cm, 6.9 μV/cm, and 3.0 μV/cm, respectively. The corresponding sensitivity is 5.7 μV/cm/Hz, 2.2 μV/cm/Hz, and 0.95 μV/cm/Hz for the ULF, VLF, and LF fields, which is better than a 1-cm dipole antenna. Besides, the linear dynamic range of the Rydberg-atom sensor is over 50 dB. This work presents the potential to enable more applications that utilize atomic sensing technology in the ULF, VLF, and LF fields.