Master of Arts in Physics
Princeton University
Awarded: January 2023
Atomic-based measurement systems provide exceptional sensitivity and create self-calibrating measurements because they utilize fundamental properties of a given atomic species. Developing atom-based sensors for microwave fields creates much more sensitive antennas, and removes the need to calibrate the specific antenna sensitivity. Rydberg atoms are atoms in highly excited states, which makes nearby energy states accessible with microwave fields. Depending on the atomic species and energy level, these systems can be designed for a range of frequencies such as 10 GHz all the way to 100 GHz. The primary drawback is the sensivity of these systems is limited by the linewidth of the lasers that drive the atoms into their energy state. There are solutions for exceptionally narrow laser linewidths, but they are very expensive and make it difficult to re-package this architecture.
My early graduate work constructed a novel experiment that used Cesium atoms in a room temperature glass cell as the microwave field sensor. We used a two-laser system to excite the Cesium atoms into a Rydberg state. Once the atoms are in a Rydberg state, they have a relatively long lifetime so there is a brief period where it is possible to continue manipulating their state. By applying a local microwave field to drive the atoms between two energy states, we could use the microwave field we want to measure as a deviation on the coherent drive from our local field. By making this proceudre a series of time-separated pulses, the sensitivity to microwaves could be decoupledfrom the laser linewidth which created a new sensivity standard at 10 GHz without needing laser linewidth conditioning.
Specialty Coursework
Digital and Analog electronics, based on The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill, I took and was the lab assitant for courses that spanned digital logic from the transistor, through flip-flops and logic gates, to basic FPGA demonstrations. In the analog coursework, we covered OP-Amps, feedback systems, and creating constant voltage or current sources.
Research Projects
- RADES Sensing - Rydberg atom dark evolution sensing, RADES, achieved a 10 pV-per-root-Hz sensitivity at 10GHz