Atomic TV broadcasts live video using a laser and a cloud of massive atoms

By demonstrating that a cloud of atoms can be used as a receiver to pick up video transmissions, researchers have developed an atomic television. Television uses atomic clouds and lasers to carry video signals that meet traditional resolution standards. Atom-based communication systems are believed to be smaller and can tolerate more noise than conventional electronics. The atoms used in the device are created in high-energy Rydberg states, which are unusually sensitive to electromagnetic fields, including radio signals.

A team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), US, ready In Rydberg, gaseous rubidium atoms are placed in a glass container using two different color lasers. To receive the signal, a static radio signal is applied to a glass container filled with atoms. Here, energy changes in the Rydberg atoms that modulate the carrier signal can be detected by the team.

After this, the modulated output is fed to a television after which an analog-to-digital converter converts the signal into a video graphics array format for display. When a live video signal or game is to be displayed, an input is sent from the video camera to adjust the original carrier signal. This signal is then fed to a horn antenna that transmits the atom.

The original signal carrier is used as a reference and the final video output detected by the atoms is compared to it to evaluate the system. “We figured out how to stream and receive video through a Rydberg atom sensor. Now we’re doing video streaming and quantum gaming, streaming video games through atoms. We originally encoded video game signals and searched with atoms. The output is fed directly into the TV,” said Chris Holloway, project leader and author of the study.

in the study, Published At AVS Quantum Science, the team studied laser beam power, size, and detection methods to obtain video through atoms in standard definition format. The size of the laser beam affects the average residence time of atoms in the interaction region of the laser. Here the time is inversely related to the bandwidth of the receiver i.e. more data is generated using a shorter beam and less time.