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arXiv:1804.04185 · International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems

Quantum Backscatter Communication: A New Paradigm

Roberto Di Candia, Riku Jäntti, Ruifeng Duan, Jari Lietzén, Hany Khalifa, Kalle Ruttik

Published Aug 1, 2018• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel quantum backscatter communications (QBC) protocol, inspired by the quantum illumination (QI) concept. In the QBC paradigm, the transmitter generates entangled photon pairs. The signal photon is transmitted and the idler photon is kept at the receiver. The tag antenna communicates by performing the pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK) or quadratic phase shift keying (QPSK) on the signal impinging at the antenna. Using the sum-frequency-generation receiver, our QBC protocol achieves a 6 dB error exponent gain for PAM and BPSK, and 3 dB gain for QPSK over its classical counterpart. Finally, we discuss the QI-enhanced secure backscatter communication.

DOI
10.1109/iswcs.2018.8491095

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In this paper, we propose a novel quantum backscatter communications (QBC) protocol, inspired by the quantum illumination (QI) concept. In the QBC paradigm, the transmitter generates entangled photon pairs. The signal photon is transmitted and the idler photon is kept at the receiver. The tag antenna communicates by performing the pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK) or quadratic phase shift keying (QPSK) on the signal impinging at the antenna. Using the sum-frequency-generation receiver, our QBC protocol achieves a 6 dB error exponent gain for PAM and BPSK, and 3 dB gain for QPSK over its classical counterpart. Finally, we discuss the QI-enhanced secure backscatter communication.
Quantum illumination (QI) is a revolutionary photonic quantum sensing paradigm that enhances the sensitivity of photodetection in noisy and lossy environments. In this paper, we propose to use QI in a quantum backscatter communication (QBC), with the aim of increasing the receiver sensitivity beyond the limits of its classical counterpart. One of the practical challenges in microwave QI is the slow rate at which the entangled microwave modes can be generated. Here, we propose to mitigate this problem by using a multiple-input multiple-output antenna system to synthetically increase the number of efficiently- distinguishable modes in the QBC context.
In this paper, the free-space optics (FSO) quantum backscatter communication (QBC), inspired by the quantum illumination concept, is described. In this method, the transmitter generates entangled photon pairs. The signal photon is transmitted in the direction of the modulated retro reflector (MRR) or the tag antenna, and the idler photon is moved to the receiver. The MRR communicates by modulating the received photon and retro-reflecting it back to the receiver. QBC could provide performance improvement in comparison to conventional backscatter communications. In this work, a mathematical model of the FSO QBC systems is derived. In an FSO system, the pointing direction jitter is a stochastic process that reduces the communication performance. In this paper, optimization of FSO QBC performance is proposed to minimize the error probability. This could be done by adapting the telescope gain to jitter a standard deviation amplitude.
Backscattered signals are always obscured by the unavoidable channel noise. However, by exploiting quantum physics recent protocols had been developed to enhance the probability of detecting backscattered signals in a very noisy environment [1], [2]. In this paper we propose a new detection scheme that is simpler in nature than the sum frequency receiver that was proposed for the quantum illumination protocol [3]. Signals are generated using spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) and are transmitted via the simple modulation technique of on-off keying (OOK), while the receiver design will rely upon the purely non-classical Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect.
A new paradigm for secure communication, based on quantum illumination, is proposed. Alice uses spontaneous parametric down-conversion to send Bob a set of signal modes over a pure-loss channel while retaining the set of idler modes with which they are maximally entangled. Bob imposes a single information bit on the modes he receives from Alice via binary phase-shift keying. He then adds classical Gaussian noise and sends the noisy modulated modes back to Alice over the same pure-loss channel. Even though the loss and noise destroy any entanglement between the modes that Alice receives from Bob and the idler modes she has retained, she can decode Bob's bit with an error probability that can be orders of magnitude lower than what is achieved by a passive eavesdropper who receives all the photons that are lost en route from Alice to Bob and from Bob to Alice.
Superconducting circuits provide a suitable platform to build quantum computers with increasing number of quantum bits (qubits). As such the sheer number of qubits, i.e., the quantum mechanical computational units in a quantum computer, cannot be used to determine the computational power of the computer. On the other hand, a large number of qubits is required to execute well-known quantum algorithms with reliable accuracy. To even dream about solving complex tasks with the state-of-the-art quantum circuits, they have to be improved in many ways to achieve a high level of accuracy. An essential part of large quantum systems is the communication between distant computational units. Establishing efficient communication channels between different parts allows building a network of established components. However, the communication has to be resistant to significant levels of background noise. Quantum backscatter communication is particularly interesting communication paradigm that fulfills this requirement. Here, a single photon is generated and divided into an entangled pair of a signal and an idler photon. The idler photon is sent directly to a receiving quantum system whereas the signal photon is scattered from an auxiliary component. The backscattering event introduces a phase shift that carries the information being sent from the backscatterer to the receiving quantum system. The utilization of quantum entanglement improves the signal-to-noise ratio compared with the classical backscatter paradigm. In this thesis, we study a method to generate single signal photons conditioned on a quantum state of a superconducting qubit, which is a prerequisite for quantum backscattering communication. This process involves exciting the quantum bit to its second excited state and driving it with an appropriate pulse frequency such that the qubit evolves back to the ground state of the system while simultaneously generating a single photon. We find that with our current measurement setup, the signal photon is generated with a success rate of 70%. As our research group’s first trial for this type of measurement, the results show great promise for future work with the quantum backscatter project.
Abstract Quantum communication addresses the problem of exchanging information across macroscopic distances by employing encryption techniques based on quantum mechanical laws. Here, we advance a new paradigm for secure quantum communication by combining backscattering concepts with covert communication in the microwave regime. Our protocol allows communication between Alice, who uses only discrete phase modulations, and Bob, who has access to cryogenic microwave technology. Using notions of quantum channel discrimination and quantum metrology, we find the ultimate bounds for the receiver performance, proving that quantum correlations can enhance the signal-to-noise ratio by up to 6 dB. We show that security can be reached by covering the carrier signal through the presence of the thermal noise in the environment. We complement our information-theoretic results with a feasible experimental proposal in a circuit QED platform. This work makes a decisive step toward implementing secure quantum communication concepts in the previously uncharted 1 − 10 GHz frequency range, in the relevant scenario when the available power is severely constrained.