Summary
The Quantum Apertures (QA) program aims to develop a fundamentally new way of receiving radio-frequency (RF) waveforms.
New, QA-developed receivers would improve both sensitivity and frequency agility in several areas of interest to national security, including electromagnetic spectrum operations, radar, and communications.
First demonstrated in the DARPA QuASAR program, the target quantum apertures receivers will sense electric fields using highly excited, so-called “Rydberg” quantum states with high quantum number (n) of approximately 100.
High-n states have electrons that orbit ~10,000 times further away from the proton than a ground-state atom, making them highly sensitive to electric fields – effectively acting like small antennas.
The QA program exploits a phenomenon called electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), which changes the intensity of a laser passing through a cloud of Rydberg atoms. The QA program aims to develop portable and directional RF receivers useful for future DoD missions with greater sensitivity, bandwidth, and dynamic range than any classical receiver.