Performance analysis of atomic magnetometer and bandwidth-extended loop antenna in resonant phase-modulated magnetic field communication system

Abstract

Telecommunications through an electrically conductive medium require the use of carrier bands with very-low and ultralow frequencies to establish radiofrequency links in harsh environments. Recent advances in atomic magnetometers operating at very-low frequencies have facilitated the reception of digitally modulated signals. We demonstrate the transmission and reception of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signals using a multi-resonant loop antenna and atomic magnetometer, respectively. We report the measured error vector magnitude according to the symbol rate for QPSK modulation and analyze the bandwidth of a receiver based on the atomic magnetometer. The multi-resonant loop antenna noticeably enhances the bandwidth by over 70% compared with a single-loop antenna. QPSK modulation for a carrier frequency of 20 kHz and symbol rate of 150 symbols per second verifies the feasibility of demodulation, and the measured error vector magnitude and signal-to-noise ratio are 7.29% and 30.9 dB, respectively.