It is well known that entanglement can benefit quantum information processing tasks. Quantum illumination, when first proposed, was surprising as the entanglement's benefit survived entanglement-breaking noise. Since then, many efforts have been devoted to study quantum sensing in noisy scenarios. The applicability of such schemes, however, is limited to a binary quantum hypothesis testing scenario. In terms of target detection, such schemes interrogate a single spatiotemporal resolution bin at a time, limiting the impact to radar detection. We resolve this binary-hypothesis limitation by proposing an entanglement-assisted quantum ranging protocol. By formulating a ranging task as a multiary hypothesis testing problem, we show that entanglement enables a 6-dB advantage in the error exponent against the optimal classical scheme. Moreover, the proposed ranging protocol can also be used to implement a pulse-position modulated entanglement-assisted communication protocol. Our ranging protocol reveals entanglement's potential in general quantum hypothesis testing tasks and paves the way toward a quantum-ranging radar with a provable quantum advantage.
It is well known that entanglement can benefit quantum information processing tasks. Quantum illumination, when first proposed, was surprising as the entanglement's benefit survived entanglement-breaking noise. Since then, many efforts have been devoted to study quantum sensing in noisy scenarios. The applicability of such schemes, however, is limited to a binary quantum hypothesis testing scenario. In terms of target detection, such schemes interrogate a single spatiotemporal resolution bin at a time, limiting the impact to radar detection. We resolve this binary-hypothesis limitation by proposing an entanglement-assisted quantum ranging protocol. By formulating a ranging task as a multiary hypothesis testing problem, we show that entanglement enables a 6-dB advantage in the error exponent against the optimal classical scheme. Moreover, the proposed ranging protocol can also be used to implement a pulse-position modulated entanglement-assisted communication protocol. Our ranging protocol reveals entanglement's potential in general quantum hypothesis testing tasks and paves the way toward a quantum-ranging radar with a provable quantum advantage.
Given a quantum system S entangled with another system I, the entanglement-testing problem arises, prompting the identification of the system S within a set of $m\ensuremath{\ge}2$ identical systems. This scenario serves as a model for the measurement task encountered in quantum ranging and entanglement-assisted communication [Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 240501, (2021)]. In this context, the optimal measurement approach typically involves joint measurements on all m+1 systems. However, we demonstrate that this is not the case when the subsystems containing system S are subjected to entanglement-breaking noise. Our approach utilizes the recently developed measurement technique of correlation-to-displacement conversion. We present a structured design for the entanglement-testing measurement, implementable with local operations and classical communications (LOCC) on the m+1 systems, while joint between multiple identical copies. Furthermore, we prove that this measurement approach, combining Gaussian operations and on and off photon detection, achieves optimality in terms of error probability asymptotically under noisy conditions. When applied to quantum illumination, our measurement design enables optimal ranging in scenarios with low signal brightness and high levels of noise. Similarly, when applied to entanglement-assisted pulse-position-modulated classical communication, the measurement design leads to a significant relative advantage in communication rates, particularly in scenarios with low signal brightness.
Given a quantum system S entangled with another system I, the entanglement testing problem arises, prompting the identification of the system S within a set of m≥2 identical systems. This scenario serves as a model for the measurement task encountered in quantum ranging and entanglement-assisted communication [Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 240501, (2021)]. In this context, the optimal measurement approach typically involves joint measurements on all m+1 systems. However, we demonstrate that this is not the case when the subsystems containing system S are subjected to entanglement-breaking noise. Our approach utilizes the recently developed measurement technique of correlation-to-displacement conversion. We present a structured design for the entanglement testing measurement, implementable with local operations and classical communications (LOCC) on the m+1 systems. Furthermore, we prove that this measurement approach achieves optimality in terms of error probability asymptotically under noisy conditions. When applied to quantum illumination, our measurement design enables optimal ranging in scenarios with low signal brightness and high levels of noise. Similarly, when applied to entanglement-assisted classical communication, the measurement design leads to a significant relative advantage in communication rates, particularly in scenarios with low signal brightness.
Entanglement offers substantial advantages in quantum information processing, but loss and noise hinder its application in practical scenarios. Although it has been well known for decades that the classical communication capacity of lossy and noisy bosonic channels can be significantly enhanced by entanglement, no practical encoding and decoding schemes are available to realize any entanglement-enabled advantage. Here, we report structured encoding and decoding schemes for such an entanglement-assisted communication scenario. Specifically, we show that phase encoding on an entangled two-mode squeezed vacuum state saturates the entanglement-assisted classical communication capacity of a very noisy channel and overcomes the fundamental limit on covert communication that exists without the assistance of entanglement. We then construct receivers for optimum hypothesis-testing protocols with discrete phase modulation and for optimum noisy phase-estimation protocols with continuous phase modulation. Our results pave the way for entanglement-assisted communication and sensing in the radio-frequency and microwave spectral ranges.
Abstract Entanglement has been known to boost target detection, despite it being destroyed by lossy-noisy propagation. Recently, Zhuang and Shapiro (2022 Phys. Rev. Lett. 128 010501) proposed a quantum pulse-compression radar to extend entanglement’s benefit to target range estimation. In a radar application, many other aspects of the target are of interest, including angle, velocity and cross section. In this study, we propose a dual-receiver radar scheme that employs a high time-bandwidth product microwave pulse entangled with a pre-shared reference signal available at the receiver, to investigate the direction of a distant object and show that the direction-resolving capability is significantly improved by entanglement, compared to its classical counterpart under the same parameter settings. We identify the applicable scenario of this quantum radar to be short-range and high-frequency, which enables entanglement’s benefit in a reasonable integration time.
Quantum illumination is an entanglement-based target detection protocol that provides quantum advantages despite the presence of entanglement-breaking noise. However, the advantage of traditional quantum illumination protocols is limited to impractical scenarios with low transmitted power and simple target configurations. In this work, we propose a quantum illumination network to overcome the limitations, via designing a transmitter array and a single receiver antenna. Thanks to multiple transmitters, quantum advantage is achieved even with a high total transmitted power. Moreover, for single-parameter estimation, the advantage of network over a single transmitter case increases with the number of transmitters before saturation. At the same time, complex target configurations with multiple unknown transmissivity or phase parameters can be resolved. Despite the interference of different returning signals at the single antenna and photon-loss due to multiple-access channel, we provide two types of measurement design, one based on parametric-amplification and one based on the correlation-to-displacement conversion (CtoD) to achieve a quantum advantage in estimating all unknown parameters. We also generalize the parameter estimation scenario to a general hypothesis testing scenario, where the six-decibel quantum illumination advantage is achieved at a much greater total probing power.
Quantum illumination is an entanglement-based target detection protocol that provides quantum advantages despite entanglement-breaking noise. However, the advantage of traditional quantum illumination protocols is limited to impractical scenarios with low transmitted power and simple target configurations. Here, we address these challenges by introducing a quantum illumination network that leverages a transmitter array and a single receiver antenna. Thanks to multiple transmitters, quantum advantage is achieved with a high total transmitted power. Furthermore, the network resolves complex target configurations involving multiple unknown transmissivity or phase parameters. Despite the interference of different returning signals at the single antenna and photon loss due to multiple-access channels, we develop two types of measurement designs: one based on parametric amplification and the other on correlation-to-displacement conversion. Finally, we generalize the parameter estimation scenario to a general hypothesis testing scenario, where the six-decibel quantum illumination advantage is achieved at a much greater total probing power. A quantum illumination protocol with a network of transmitters and a single receiver antenna is proposed. This protocol reaches a quantum advantage at high transmitted power and is applied to low-reflectivity target detection, pattern recognition, and multiple-phase sensing.