This invention provides an
electromagnetic field detector, a
system comprising the
electromagnetic field detector, and a method of operating an
electromagnetic field detector, the electromagnetic field detector comprising a first optical
signal interface configured to receive, from one or more remote optical sources, a first optical
signal; an electromagnetic field
transmitter configured to transmit a
local oscillator electromagnetic field generated from the first optical
signal, the electromagnetic field
transmitter comprising: a
photocurrent generator configured to generate a
photocurrent from the first optical signal; and an antenna interface configured to supply the
photocurrent to an antenna to transmit the
local oscillator electromagnetic field; a second optical signal interface configured to receive, from the one or more remote optical sources, a probe optical signal and a
coupling optical signal; and a
transmission medium configured to be excited by the probe optical signal and further excited by the
coupling optical signal, wherein the probe optical signal has a probe frequency set to excite electrons of the
transmission medium to a first
excited state and the
coupling optical signal has a coupling frequency set to excite electrons of the
transmission medium to a predetermined
Rydberg state so as to induce an Electromagnetic Induced Transparency, EIT, effect, wherein the transmission medium is further configured to receive a phase-modulated electromagnetic field from a remote
transmitter and the
local oscillator electromagnetic field such that the combination of the phase-modulated electromagnetic field and the local oscillator electromagnetic field causes a change in the probe optical signal from which a
phase state of the phase-modulated electromagnetic field can be detected.