A New Antenna Near-Field Measurement Method based on Rydberg Atoms

In this paper, a new solution is proposed for measurement of amplitude and phase of microwave in near-field antenna measurement through a popular method of quantum optics. The method will not introduce the reflections of probe to the original field of antenna, interference between the probe and antenna, and machining error of the metal probe. The method related to EIT-AT phenomenon of Rydberg atom can measure the amplitudes and phases of microwave at sampling points in near-field plane at the same time based on the superheterodyne. In test, a high dynamic range of 40 dB for amplitude can be accurately measured, and the measured phase is similar to the ones of traditional waveguide probe and simulation results and the phase errors is within 1%. According to the near field results, we get the far field pattern of horn antenna well. It can be considered as a new alternative for near-field antenna measurements in the future.