Reactive near-field subwavelength microwave imaging with a non-invasive Rydberg probe

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Main Authors: Hu, Chaoyang, Jing, Mingyong, Liu, Zongkai, Yuan, Shaoxin, Wu, Bin, Peng, Yan, Li, Tingting, Yang, Wenguang, Xie, Junyao, Zhang, Hao, Xiao, Liantuan, Jia, Suotang, Zhang, Linjie
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Published: 2025
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author Hu, Chaoyang
Jing, Mingyong
Liu, Zongkai
Yuan, Shaoxin
Wu, Bin
Peng, Yan
Li, Tingting
Yang, Wenguang
Xie, Junyao
Zhang, Hao
Xiao, Liantuan
Jia, Suotang
Zhang, Linjie
author_facet Hu, Chaoyang
Jing, Mingyong
Liu, Zongkai
Yuan, Shaoxin
Wu, Bin
Peng, Yan
Li, Tingting
Yang, Wenguang
Xie, Junyao
Zhang, Hao
Xiao, Liantuan
Jia, Suotang
Zhang, Linjie
contents Non-invasive microwave field imaging--accurately mapping field distributions without perturbing them--is essential in areas such as aerospace engineering, biomedical imaging and integrated-circuit diagnostics. Conventional metal probes, however, inevitably perturb reactive near fields: they act as strong scatterers that drive induced currents and secondary radiation, remap evanescent components and thereby degrade both accuracy and spatial resolution, particularly in the reactive near-field regime that is most relevant to these applications. Here we demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, reactive near-field subwavelength imaging of microwave fields using the quantum non-demolition properties of Rydberg atoms, realized with a compact, non-invasive single-ended fibre-integrated Rydberg probe engineered to minimize field disturbance. The probe achieves an imaging resolution of {\unboldmath$λ/56$}, and the measured field distributions agree with full-wave simulations with structural similarity approaching unity, confirming both its subwavelength spatial resolution and its genuinely non-invasive character compared with conventional metal-based probes. Because the atomic sensor is intrinsically isotropic, the same device can faithfully image multi-dimensional field structures without orientation-dependent calibration. Our results therefore establish a general, non-invasive route to high-accuracy, subwavelength reactive near-field microwave imaging, with particular promise for applications such as chip-defect detection and integrated-circuit diagnostics, where even small perturbations by the probe can mask the underlying physics of interest.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_19116
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reactive near-field subwavelength microwave imaging with a non-invasive Rydberg probe
Hu, Chaoyang
Jing, Mingyong
Liu, Zongkai
Yuan, Shaoxin
Wu, Bin
Peng, Yan
Li, Tingting
Yang, Wenguang
Xie, Junyao
Zhang, Hao
Xiao, Liantuan
Jia, Suotang
Zhang, Linjie
Quantum Physics
Applied Physics
Atomic Physics
Instrumentation and Detectors
Optics
Non-invasive microwave field imaging--accurately mapping field distributions without perturbing them--is essential in areas such as aerospace engineering, biomedical imaging and integrated-circuit diagnostics. Conventional metal probes, however, inevitably perturb reactive near fields: they act as strong scatterers that drive induced currents and secondary radiation, remap evanescent components and thereby degrade both accuracy and spatial resolution, particularly in the reactive near-field regime that is most relevant to these applications. Here we demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, reactive near-field subwavelength imaging of microwave fields using the quantum non-demolition properties of Rydberg atoms, realized with a compact, non-invasive single-ended fibre-integrated Rydberg probe engineered to minimize field disturbance. The probe achieves an imaging resolution of {\unboldmath$λ/56$}, and the measured field distributions agree with full-wave simulations with structural similarity approaching unity, confirming both its subwavelength spatial resolution and its genuinely non-invasive character compared with conventional metal-based probes. Because the atomic sensor is intrinsically isotropic, the same device can faithfully image multi-dimensional field structures without orientation-dependent calibration. Our results therefore establish a general, non-invasive route to high-accuracy, subwavelength reactive near-field microwave imaging, with particular promise for applications such as chip-defect detection and integrated-circuit diagnostics, where even small perturbations by the probe can mask the underlying physics of interest.
title Reactive near-field subwavelength microwave imaging with a non-invasive Rydberg probe
topic Quantum Physics
Applied Physics
Atomic Physics
Instrumentation and Detectors
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.19116