Applied Quantum Sensing with Rydberg atoms

On 19th Sep 2025, the Quantum Sensing Centre hosted a Tech Talk, inviting Asst. Prof Michał Parniak-Niedojadło from University of Warsaw Faculty of Physics to share his expertise on atomic molecular optical physics in a talk titled “Applied quantum sensing with Rydberg atoms”.

Asst Prof Michał leads the Quantum Optical Devices Lab within the Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies in the University of Warsaw. His research spans quantum optics, quantum metrology, and hybrid light-matter interfaces, with a focus on atomic ensembles, nonlinear optics and quantum optomechanics. His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Frank Wilczek Prize (2022), the W. Rubinowicz Prize of the Polish Physical Society (2023) and the Ministry Scholarship for outstanding young scientists (2023-2026).

Recently, his group have used Rydberg atoms to develop hot vapour cell technologies that bridge fundamental physics with real-world applications, including record-performing microwave-to-optical transducers and quantum sensors operating under realistic conditions.

Rydberg atoms are atoms with electrons excited to very high energy levels and are exceptionally sensitive to electric fields, which make them an attractive platform for next-generation quantum sensing technologies. These atoms are contained in vapour cells which operate at or near room temperature, offering compact and robust devices that can be deployed outside the laboratory.

In his talk, Michał presented using Rydberg atoms to detect and transduce microwave to millimeter-wave (predominantly used for 5G) signals with unprecedented sensitivity. By exploiting the strong dipole moments of Rydberg transitions, he showed a substantial gain in measurement precision, improving the detection of weak electric fields. This opens the door for many practical applications, such as mapping electromagnetic environments with high spatial resolution, frequency-tunable receivers for communications and radar, and hybrid interfaces for linking microwave to optical domains for quantum networks. Most importantly, the scalability and manufacturability of such systems will pave the way for a new class of robust quantum sensors that can operate in realistic, field-deployable settings.

After his talk, Prof Michał also had a technical discussion with the QSC and DSO team, which led to a fruitful exchange of ideas on how Rydberg atoms can be applied in quantum sensing systems.

Thank you to all who came to attend the Tech Talk hosted in QSC. If you have any queries regarding Tech Talks, please contact us at qsc@dso.org.sg.