Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Amarloo et al. (2021/0285993).
Regarding claim 1, Amarloo discloses a method comprising: detecting, by an atomic receiver, incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation comprising an incident EM frequency and an incident EM phase (Amarloo, [0068]); and generating, by the atomic receiver and based on the detected incident EM radiation, a signal indicative of the incident EM phase, wherein the atomic receiver generates the signal without the use of a local oscillator (Amarloo, no local oscillator disclosed).
Regarding claim 13, Amarloo discloses a sensing system comprising an atomic receiver configured to detect an incident EM phase of incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation without the use of a local oscillator. (Amarloo, [0068]; no local oscillator disclosed)
Regarding claim 14, Amarloo further discloses the sensing system is configured to determine a phase value of the detected incident EM phase without limiting the phase value to any range of phase values. (Amarloo, [0068])
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2-3, 6-12, 15, 16, 19, 21, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Amarloo in view of Anderson et al. (2022/0196716).
Regarding claim 2, Amarloo further teaches wherein detecting the incident EM radiation comprises: exciting, via EM radiation (Amarloo [0040] "In many variations, the photonic crystal frame 128 includes an antenna structure 136, such as a tapered protrusion, for coupling to electromagnetic radiation (e.g., RF radiation) incident on the example photonic crystal receiver 120. The features of the photonic crystal frame 128 improve a sensitivity of the example photonic crystal receiver 120 to electromagnetic radiation (e.g., electric fields), especially relative to the example stemless vapor cell 100."), a plurality of alkali atoms (Amarloo [0050] "The example receiver 150 may also include a vapor or a source of the vapor in the elongated slot 160. The vapor may include constituents such as a gas of alkali-metal atoms, a noble gas, a gas of diatomic halogen molecules, or a gas of organic molecules. For example, the vapor may include a gas of alkali-metal atoms (e.g., K, Rb, Cs, etc.), a noble gas (e.g., He, Ne, Ar, Kr, etc.), or both. In another example, the vapor may include a gas of diatomic halogen molecules (e.g., F2, CI2, Br2, etc.), a noble gas, or both.") from a first quantum state to a plurality of Rydberg states (Amarloo [0061] "The photonic crystal receiver may function as a Rydberg atom-based radar receiver with an electric field sensitivity that is enhanced by a significant factor (e.g., a factor of approximate 1000, or another factor) compared to a bare vapor cell."); wherein the EM radiation comprises: a probe EM radiation having a probe frequency (Amarloo [0092] "The input optical signals 1608 may have respective frequencies matched to energy differences associated with the one or more electronic transitions. For example, the input optical signals 1608 may include a probe laser beam and a coupling laser beam matched, respectively, to first and second electronic transitions of the vapor."); a first coupling EM radiation having a first coupling frequency and a first coupling phase (Amarloo [0092] "The input optical signals 1608 may have respective frequencies matched to energy differences associated with the one or more electronic transitions. For example, the input optical signals 1608 may include a probe laser beam and a coupling laser beam matched, respectively, to first and second electronic transitions of the vapor."); detecting, via the probe EM radiation, an interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms upon excitation of the alkali atoms by the incident EM radiation (Amarloo [0090] "Laser light to prepare and read-out the atoms can be coupled into and out of the photonic crystal receiver through free space, or through fiber coupling of the light to the photonic crystal frame. After the probe laser light-referring to Rydberg atom-based sensing configurations-leaves the channel, the probe laser light is transported to a photodetector and its optical signal processed to readout the strength, polarization, and phase of the incoming RF electromagnetic field as a function of time"), wherein the interferometric response is indicative of the incident EM phase (Amarloo [0068] "The vapor in the linear cavity is operable to interact with the target electromagnetic radiation incident on the example photonic crystal frame, which may be enhanced or intensified in the linear cavity. Optical signals (e.g., laser beams) traveling along the optical pathway may also interact with the vapor in the linear cavity, thereby transducing the atomic interaction with the target electromagnetic field into an optical signal suitable for determining properties of the target electromagnetic field (e.g., amplitude, phase, polarization, etc.)."), wherein generating the signal comprises generating the signal based on the interferometric response (Amarloo [0068] "The vapor in the linear cavity is operable to interact with the target electromagnetic radiation incident on the example photonic crystal frame, which may be enhanced or intensified in the linear cavity. Optical signals (e.g., laser beams) traveling along the optical pathway may also interact with the vapor in the linear cavity, thereby transducing the atomic interaction with the target electromagnetic field into an optical signal suitable for determining properties of the target electromagnetic field (e.g., amplitude, phase, polarization, etc.)."); and outputting the signal (Amarloo [0068] "The vapor in the linear cavity is operable to interact with the target electromagnetic radiation incident on the example photonic crystal frame, which may be enhanced or intensified in the linear cavity. Optical signals (e.g., laser beams) traveling along the optical pathway may also interact with the vapor in the linear cavity, thereby transducing the atomic interaction with the target electromagnetic field into an optical signal suitable for determining properties of the target electromagnetic field (e.g., amplitude, phase, polarization, etc.).").
Amarloo does not disclose: exciting from a first quantum state to a plurality of Rydberg states comprising a quantum interferometric loop; and a second coupling EM radiation having a second coupling frequency and a second coupling phase.
Anderson discloses: exciting from a first quantum state to a plurality of Rydberg states (Anderson [0266] "The closed interferometric loop exhibits quantum interference between two optical excitation pathways (e.g., interferometric pathways of RF phases 515) within the Rydberg state space.") comprising a quantum interferometric loop (Anderson [0266] In some embodiments, quantum-state-space interferometer 500 can utilize an all- optical RF phase sensing: optical RF phase detection can employ a closed, interferometric loop within the internal state space of the atoms. For example, driving fields can be modulated light fields (e.g., second input signal 520) with a reference phase (e.g., predetermined or selected), and an external RF field of interest (e.g., first input signal 510), whose phase and amplitude is to be detected or measured. The closed interferometric loop exhibits quantum interference between two optical excitation pathways (e.g., interferometric pathways of RF phases 515) within the Rydberg state space. The EIT response of the atoms is, therefore, sensitive to signal phase and amplitude, enabling an all-optical readout (e.g., optical readout 550) of RF phase and amplitude."), and a second coupling EM radiation having a second coupling frequency and a second coupling phase two RF phase-modulated coupler frequency components, Anderson [0503] "In the setup, the RF phase modulation of the coupler laser 3104 is generated using an electro-optic (fiber) modulator 3120 and an additional optical phase control 3110 is added in-line to allow optional scans across the phase of the incident RF field. The corresponding modified Rydberg EIT ladder scheme 3200 implemented here is shown in FIG. 32, where the two RF phase-modulated coupler frequency components couple the rubidium 5PnS and 5P(n+1)S Rydberg levels. The incident RF field couples these S Rydberg levels to the nearby nP Rydberg level, establishing an atom-mediated interferometric relationship between the RF- modulated optical signal and incident RF. The coherent two-photon EIT ladder scheme 3200 converts the relative phase of the incident RF into a probe transmission change."; Anderson [0024] "The second atomic states are coupled by optical electromagnetic fields (O-EM) modulated at a second radio frequency (RF).").
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to use the quantum interferometric loop and the second coupling EM radiation of Rydberg in the method of Quantum since it allows to establish interferometric relationship between the RF-modulated optical signal and incident RF and hence determine properties of the incident radiation (Anderson [0266], Rydberg).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches wherein the first quantum state is a ground state (Anderson [0595] "In the model one can further account for the fact that the atom sample within the probe region undergoes a constant replacement of 'inside' with 'outside' atoms due to atom migration into and out of the probe region. This is accounted for by a decay term 31 from the Rydberg into the ground state. While in the Lindblad operator, equation (4), the spatial population migration is treated like an atomic decay from the Rydberg into the ground level, the migration has nothing in common with an electromagnetic decay. (Incidentally, direct decay from nD into 5S1/2 states is dipole-forbidden.) Spatial migration of 5P3/2 atoms is neglected due to the short 27 ns lifetime of the 5P3/2 state. In the calculation the turn-on and turn-off of the optical fields are included by assuming a linear rise and fall of the Rabi-frequency pulses over a time of 100 ns."), and wherein the incident EM frequency completes the interferometric loop (Anderson [0024] "The interferometric pathway of RF phases between the first and second atomic states is closed by a quantum-state-space. The detector is configured to detect a readout that includes an interferometric signal from the quantum-state-space. The detected readout is configured to provide RF interferometry in optical and/or quantum domains. The system may be described as atom RF interferometry. The phase, as well as amplitude, of either the RF or o -EM fields may be detected and measured for implementation in optical sensing of RF phase or detection of optical RF phase mediated by an atom RF interferometer.").
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches each of the probe frequency, the first coupling frequency, the second coupling frequency, and the control frequency comprises at least one of an ultraviolet (UV), a visible, or a near-infrared (NIR) frequency, and wherein the incident EM frequency comprises a radio frequency. (Amerloo, [0051]; Amerloo [0029])
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches the radio frequency comprises a frequency between 10 megahertz and 1 terahertz. (Amerloo, [0029], [0043])
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches the signal based on the interferometric response comprises an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal. (Anderson, [0042], the claimed in-phase and quadrature signal is equivalent to the described signal types)
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches determining, based on the signal, the first coupling phase, and the second coupling phase, the incident EM phase, wherein determining the incident EM phase is not limited to any range of phase values. (Amerloo, [0089])
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches determining the incident EM phase comprises demodulating the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal without using a radio frequency local oscillator, wherein demodulating the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal is based on the signal, the first coupling phase and the second coupling phase. (Amerloo, [0089])
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches the interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms upon excitation of the alkali atoms by incident EM radiation comprises an electromagnetically induced transparency of the plurality of alkali atoms. (The physical processes of excitation and de-excitation of the alkali vapor is a matter of physical law and therefore must be common between the claimed invention, Amerloo, and Anderson)
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches the atomic receiver comprises an electrically small receiver. (Amerloo, [0036])(*this relative limitation may raise issues under 35 U.S.C. 112*)
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches each of the probe frequency, the first coupling frequency, the second coupling frequency, and the control frequency comprises at least one of an ultraviolet (UV), a visible, or a near-infrared (NIR) frequency, and wherein the incident EM frequency comprises a radio frequency. (Amerloo, [0051]; Amerloo [0029])
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Amerloo and Anderson further teaches the signal proportional to the interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms comprises an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal,wherein to determine the incident EM phase the processing circuitry is further configured to:demodulate the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal without using a radio frequency local oscillator,wherein demodulating the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal is based on the signal, the first coupling phase, and the second coupling phase. (Amerloo, [0089])
Regarding claim 22, claim 22 contains limitations directed to subject matter discussed above and is rejected on similar grounds.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, and 17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record does not disclose, teach, or fairly suggest the interferometric response is a first interferometric response, wherein the signal comprises a first signal, wherein the EM radiation further comprises a control EM radiation having a control frequency and a control phase, the method further comprising: changing the phase of at least one of the first coupling phase, the second coupling phase, or the control phase; detecting, via the probe EM radiation, a second interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms upon excitation of the alkali atoms by the incident EM radiation, wherein the second interferometric response is indicative of the incident EM phase; generating, by the atomic receiver and based on the second interferometric response, a second signal indicative of the incident EM phase, wherein the atomic receiver generates the second signal without the use of a local oscillator; and outputting the second signal.
Regarding claim 5, claim 5 is indicated as containing allowable subject matter based on its dependence from claim 4.
Regarding claim 17, the prior art of record does not disclose, teach, or fairly suggest, the interferometric response is a first interferometric response, wherein the signal comprises a first signal, wherein the preparation system further comprises a control EM radiation having a control frequency and a control phase,wherein the preparation system is further configured to change the phase of at least one of the first coupling phase, the second coupling phase, or the control phase,wherein the detector is further configured to:detect a second interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms upon excitation of the alkali atoms by the incident EM radiation, wherein the second interferometric response is indicative of the incident EM phase; andoutput, a second signal proportional to the second interferometric response of the plurality of alkali atoms, andwherein the processing circuitry configured to determine, based on the second signal, the incident EM phase.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN C GUNBERG whose telephone number is (571)270-3107. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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/EDWIN C GUNBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
