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arXiv:2004.06773 · IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine

Enhancing Classical Target Detection Performance Using Nonclassical Light

Han Liu, Amr Saher Helmy

Published Apr 1, 2020• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this article, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally how one can exploit correlations generated in monolithic semiconductor quantum light sources to enhance the performance of optical target detection. A prototype target detection protocol, the quantum time-correlation (QTC) detection protocol, with spontaneous parametric down-converted photon-pair sources, is discussed. The QTC protocol only requires time-resolved photon-counting detection, which is phase-insensitive and therefore suitable for optical target detection. As a comparison to the QTC detection protocol, we also consider a classical phase-insensitive target detection protocol based on intensity detection. We formulated the target detection problem as a probe light transmission estimation problem, and we quantify the target detection performance with the Fisher information criterion and the receiver operation characteristic analysis. Unlike classical target detection and ranging protocols, the probe photons in our QTC detection protocol are completely indistinguishable from the background noise and therefore useful for covert ranging applications. Finally, our technological platform is highly scalable and tunable and thus amenable to large scale integration necessary for practical applications.

DOI
10.1109/maes.2020.2966316

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In this article, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally how one can exploit correlations generated in monolithic semiconductor quantum light sources to enhance the performance of optical target detection. A prototype target detection protocol, the quantum time-correlation (QTC) detection protocol, with spontaneous parametric down-converted photon-pair sources, is discussed. The QTC protocol only requires time-resolved photon-counting detection, which is phase-insensitive and therefore suitable for optical target detection. As a comparison to the QTC detection protocol, we also consider a classical phase-insensitive target detection protocol based on intensity detection. We formulated the target detection problem as a probe light transmission estimation problem, and we quantify the target detection performance with the Fisher information criterion and the receiver operation characteristic analysis. Unlike classical target detection and ranging protocols, the probe photons in our QTC detection protocol are completely indistinguishable from the background noise and therefore useful for covert ranging applications. Finally, our technological platform is highly scalable and tunable and thus amenable to large scale integration necessary for practical applications.
The detection of objects under large background conditions is a problem of fundamental interest in sensing. In this talk we theoretically analyze a prototype target detection protocol, the quantum time correlated (QTC) detection protocol, with spontaneous parametric down-converted photon-pair sources. The QTC detection protocol only requires time-resolved photon counting detection, which is phase-insensitive and therefore suitable for optical target detection. As a comparison to the QTC detection protocol we also consider a classical phase-insensitive target detection protocol based on intensity detection. We formulated the target detection problem as a total probe photon transmission estimation problem. We carry out experiments using a semiconductor waveguide source. The experimental results agree very well with the theoretical prediction. In particular, we find that in a high-level environment noise and loss, the QTC detection protocol is able to achieve comparable to the classical protocol target detection performance but with 10–100 fold lower required time on target detection in terms of ROC curve metric. The performance of the QTC detection experiment setup could be further improved with a higher transmission of the reference photon and better detector time uncertainty. Furthermore, unlike classical target detection and ranging protocol, the probe photons in our QTC detection protocol are completely indistinguishable from the background noise and therefore useful for covert ranging applications. Finally, our technological platform is highly scalable and tunable and thus amenable to large scale integration necessary for practical applications.
The detection of objects in the presence of significant background noise is a problem of fundamental interest in sensing. In this work, we theoretically analyze a prototype target detection protocol, the quantum temporal correlation (QTC) detection protocol, which is implemented in this work utilizing spontaneous parametric down-converted photon-pair sources. The QTC detection protocol only requires time-resolved photon-counting detection, which is phase-insensitive and therefore suitable for optical target detection. As a comparison to the QTC detection protocol, we also consider a classical phase-insensitive target detection protocol based on intensity detection that is practical in the optical regime. We formulated the target detection problem as a total probe photon transmission estimation problem and obtain an analytical expression of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. We carry out experiments using a semiconductor waveguide source, which we developed and previously reported. The experimental results agree very well with the theoretical prediction. In particular, we find that in a high-level environment noise and loss, the QTC detection protocol can achieve performance comparable to that of the classical protocol (that is practical in the optical regime) but with ≃57\simeq 57≃57 times lower detection time in terms of ROC curve metric. The performance of the QTC detection protocol experiment setup could be further improved with a higher transmission of the reference photon and better detector time uncertainty. Furthermore, the probe photons in the QTC detection protocol are completely indistinguishable from the background noise and therefore useful for covert ranging applications. Finally, our technological platform is highly scalable as well as tunable and thus amenable to large scale integration, which is necessary for practical applications.
We demonstrate and analyze how deploying non-classical intensity correlations obtained from a monolithic semiconductor quantum photon source can enhance classical target detection systems. This is demonstrated by examining the advantages offered by the utilization of the non-classical correlations in a correlation based target detection protocol. We experimentally demonstrate that under the same condition, the target contrast obtained from the protocol when non-classical correlations are utilized exhibits an improvement of up to 17.79 dB over the best classical intensity correlation-based target detection protocol [1], under 29.69dB channel loss and excess noise 13.40dB stronger than the probe signal. We also assessed how the strong frequency correlations within the non-classical photon pairs can be used to further enhance this protocol.
We investigate the use of correlated photon pair sources for the improved quantum-level detection of a target in the presence of a noise background. Photon pairs are generated by spontaneous four-wave mixing, one photon from each pair (the herald) is measured locally while the other (the signal) is sent to illuminate the target. Following diffuse reflection from the target, the signal photons are detected by a receiver and nonclassical timing correlations between the signal and herald are measured in the presence of a configurable background noise source. Quantum correlations from the photon pair source can be used to provide an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio when compared to a classical light source of the same intensity.
Quantum lidar leverages the quantum properties of light to gain advantages over classical lidar, such as enhancing range accuracy and reducing the emitted optical power needed to detect a target. The low optical power makes quantum lidar especially attractive for minimizing the probability of being detected by an adversary. Various quantum sources have been considered for quantum lidar; however, a practical comparison between such widely different systems is challenging. Here, we develop a theoretical model tailored to quantum lidar for stealth ranging and imaging, and compare the performance of such systems using an attenuated pulsed laser, a quantum dot single-photon source, and a spontaneous parametric down-conversion correlated photon pair source. To ensure a fair comparison, all sources employ time correlations for detection and are equalized in terms of optical power and detectability by an adversary. Furthermore, we demonstrate the limitation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a sole metric, as it ignores the acquisition time required to confidently identify a target. To address the limitation of SNR, we supplement this metric with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. With the inclusion of ROC curves, we find that the pulsed laser and the quantum dot single-photon source outperform the correlated photon pair source when an adversary possesses a non-photon-number-resolving detector. In contrast, when facing a photon-number-resolving detector, the quantum dot single-photon source remains optimal while the correlated photon pair source outperforms the pulsed laser. Our findings demonstrate that the use of a correlated photon pair source for quantum lidar does not always outperform alternative sources with equal SNR and optical power. Finally, using ROC curves, we establish the practical range limitations of quantum lidar.
In order to enhance LIDAR performance metrics such as target detection sensitivity, noise resilience and ranging accuracy, we exploit the strong temporal correlation within the photon pairs generated in continuous-wave pumped semiconductor waveguides. The enhancement attained through the use of such non-classical sources is measured and compared to a corresponding target detection scheme based on simple photon-counting detection. The performances of both schemes are quantified by the estimation uncertainty and Fisher information of the probe photon transmission, which is a widely adopted sensing figure of merit. The target detection experiments are conducted with high probe channel loss (≃1−5×10−5\simeq 1-5\times10^{-5}≃1−5×10−5) and formidable environment noise up to 36 dB stronger than the detected probe power of 1.64×10−51.64\times 10^{-5}1.64×10−5 pW. The experimental result shows significant advantages offered by the enhanced scheme with up to 26.3 dB higher performance in terms of estimation uncertainty, which is equivalent to a reduction of target detection time by a factor of 430 or 146 (21.6 dB) times more resilience to noise. We also experimentally demonstrated ranging with these non-classical photon pairs generated with continuous-wave pump in the presence of strong noise and loss, achieving ≈\approx≈5 cm distance resolution that is limited by the temporal resolution of the detectors.