Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2406.17178

Quantum illumination networks

Xiaobin Zhao, Zheshen Zhang, Quntao Zhuang

Published Jun 24, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2406.17178

Related papers

Quantum illumination networks

Xiaobin Zhao, Zheshen Zhang, Quntao Zhuang

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.

Communications Physics•Feb 4, 2025•5 citations

Quantum illumination networks

Xiaobin Zhao, Zheshen Zhang, Quntao Zhuang

We describe a sensing scheme that, by designing a transmitter array and a single receiver antenna, potentially resolves the low-power limitation that has plagued previous quantum illumination protocols. Despite the interference among different returning signals, we provide two measurement protocols, one based on parametric amplification, and one based on the recently proposed correlation-to-displacement conversion to achieve a quantum advantage in multiparameter estimation and hypothesis testing.

Radar Sensor Technology•Jun 7, 2024•0 citations

Microwave Quantum Illumination with Correlation-To-Displacement Conversion

Jacopo Angeletti, Haowei Shi, L. Theerthagiri +2 more

Entanglement is vulnerable to degradation in a noisy sensing scenario, but surprisingly, the quantum illumination protocol has demonstrated that its advantage can survive. However, designing a measurement system that realizes this advantage is challenging since the information is hidden in the weak correlation embedded in the noise at the receiver side. Recent progress in a correlation-to-displacement conversion module provides a route towards an optimal protocol for practical microwave quantum illumination. In this work, we extend the conversion module to accommodate experimental imperfections that are ubiquitous in microwave systems. To mitigate loss, we propose amplification of the return signals. In the case of ideal amplification, the entire six-decibel error-exponent advantage in target detection error can be maintained. However, in the case of noisy amplification, this advantage is reduced to three decibels. We analyze the quantum advantage under different scenarios with a Kennedy receiver in the final measurement. In the ideal case, the performance still achieves the optimal one over a fairly large range of error probability with only on-off detection. Empowered by photon-number-resolving detectors, the performance is further improved and also analyzed in terms of receiver operating characteristic curves. Our findings pave the way for the development of practical microwave quantum illumination systems.

arXiv:2303.18206•Physical Review Applied•Aug 11, 2023•8 citations

Quantum illumination for enhanced detection of Rayleigh-fading targets

Quntao Zhuang, Zheshen Zhang, Jeffrey H. Shapiro

Quantum illumination (QI) is an entanglement-enhanced sensing system whose performance advantage over a comparable classical system survives its usage in an entanglement-breaking scenario plagued by loss and noise. In particular, QI's error-probability exponent for discriminating between equally likely hypotheses of target absence or presence is 6 dB higher than that of the optimum classical system using the same transmitted power. This performance advantage, however, presumes that the target return, when present, has known amplitude and phase, a situation that seldom occurs in light detection and ranging (lidar) applications. At lidar wavelengths, most target surfaces are sufficiently rough that their returns are speckled, i.e., they have Rayleigh-distributed amplitudes and uniformly distributed phases. QI's optical parametric amplifier receiver---which affords a 3 dB better-than-classical error-probability exponent for a return with known amplitude and phase---fails to offer any performance gain for Rayleigh-fading targets. We show that the sum-frequency generation receiver [Zhuang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 040801 (2017)]---whose error-probability exponent for a nonfading target achieves QI's full 6 dB advantage over optimum classical operation---outperforms the classical system for Rayleigh-fading targets. In this case, QI's advantage is subexponential: its error probability is lower than the classical system's by a factor of $1/ln(M\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}{N}_{S}/{N}_{B})$, when $M\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}{N}_{S}/{N}_{B}\ensuremath{\gg}1$, with $M\ensuremath{\gg}1$ being the QI transmitter's time-bandwidth product, ${N}_{S}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ its brightness, $\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}$ the target return's average intensity, and ${N}_{B}$ the background light's brightness.

arXiv:1706.05561•Physical Review A•Aug 15, 2017•51 citations

Entanglement-assisted detection of fading targets via correlation-to-displacement conversion

Xin Chen, Quntao Zhuang

Quantum illumination utilizes an entanglement-enhanced sensing system to outperform classical illumination in detecting a suspected target, despite the entanglement-breaking loss and noise. However, practical and optimal receiver design to fulfill the quantum advantage has been a long open problem. Recently, Shi et al. [arXiv:2207.06609 (2022)] proposed the correlation-to-displacement $(`\mathrm{C}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}_{\stackrel{P\vec}{}}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{D}\text{'})$ conversion module to enable an optimal receiver design that greatly reduces the complexity of the previous known optimal receiver [Q. Zhuang, Z. Zhang, and J. H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 040801 (2017)]. There, the analyses of the conversion module assume an ideal target with a known reflectivity and a fixed return phase. In practical applications, however, targets often induce a random return phase; moreover, their reflectivities can have fluctuations obeying a Rayleigh distribution. In this paper, we extend the analyses of the $\mathrm{C}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}_{\stackrel{P\vec}{}}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{D}$ module to realistic targets and show that the entanglement advantage is maintained albeit reduced. In particular, the conversion module allows exact and efficient performance evaluation despite the non-Gaussian nature of the quantum channel involved.

arXiv:2212.08190•Physical Review A•Jun 5, 2023•6 citations

Experimental Quantum Target Detection Approaching the Fundamental Helstrom Limit

Feixiang Xu, Xiao‐Ming Zhang, Liang Xu +3 more

Quantum target detection is an emerging application that utilizes entanglement to enhance the sensing of the presence of an object. Although several experimental demonstrations for certain situations have been reported recently, the single-shot detection limit imposed by the Helstrom limit has not been reached because of the unknown optimum measurements. Here we report an experimental demonstration of quantum target detection, also known as quantum illumination, in the single-photon limit. In our experiment, one photon of the maximally entangled photon pair is employed as the probe signal and the corresponding optimum measurement is implemented at the receiver. We explore the detection problem in different regions of the parameter space and verify that the quantum advantage exists even in a forbidden region of the conventional illumination, where all classical schemes become useless. Our results indicate that quantum illumination breaks the classical limit for up to 40%, while approaching the quantum limit imposed by the Helstrom limit. These results not only demonstrate the advantage of quantum illumination, but also manifest its valuable potential of target detection.

arXiv:2107.11577•Physical Review Letters•Jul 22, 2021•28 citations
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.
We describe a sensing scheme that, by designing a transmitter array and a single receiver antenna, potentially resolves the low-power limitation that has plagued previous quantum illumination protocols. Despite the interference among different returning signals, we provide two measurement protocols, one based on parametric amplification, and one based on the recently proposed correlation-to-displacement conversion to achieve a quantum advantage in multiparameter estimation and hypothesis testing.
Entanglement is vulnerable to degradation in a noisy sensing scenario, but surprisingly, the quantum illumination protocol has demonstrated that its advantage can survive. However, designing a measurement system that realizes this advantage is challenging since the information is hidden in the weak correlation embedded in the noise at the receiver side. Recent progress in a correlation-to-displacement conversion module provides a route towards an optimal protocol for practical microwave quantum illumination. In this work, we extend the conversion module to accommodate experimental imperfections that are ubiquitous in microwave systems. To mitigate loss, we propose amplification of the return signals. In the case of ideal amplification, the entire six-decibel error-exponent advantage in target detection error can be maintained. However, in the case of noisy amplification, this advantage is reduced to three decibels. We analyze the quantum advantage under different scenarios with a Kennedy receiver in the final measurement. In the ideal case, the performance still achieves the optimal one over a fairly large range of error probability with only on-off detection. Empowered by photon-number-resolving detectors, the performance is further improved and also analyzed in terms of receiver operating characteristic curves. Our findings pave the way for the development of practical microwave quantum illumination systems.
Quantum illumination (QI) is an entanglement-enhanced sensing system whose performance advantage over a comparable classical system survives its usage in an entanglement-breaking scenario plagued by loss and noise. In particular, QI's error-probability exponent for discriminating between equally likely hypotheses of target absence or presence is 6 dB higher than that of the optimum classical system using the same transmitted power. This performance advantage, however, presumes that the target return, when present, has known amplitude and phase, a situation that seldom occurs in light detection and ranging (lidar) applications. At lidar wavelengths, most target surfaces are sufficiently rough that their returns are speckled, i.e., they have Rayleigh-distributed amplitudes and uniformly distributed phases. QI's optical parametric amplifier receiver---which affords a 3 dB better-than-classical error-probability exponent for a return with known amplitude and phase---fails to offer any performance gain for Rayleigh-fading targets. We show that the sum-frequency generation receiver [Zhuang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 040801 (2017)]---whose error-probability exponent for a nonfading target achieves QI's full 6 dB advantage over optimum classical operation---outperforms the classical system for Rayleigh-fading targets. In this case, QI's advantage is subexponential: its error probability is lower than the classical system's by a factor of $1/ln(M\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}{N}_{S}/{N}_{B})$, when $M\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}{N}_{S}/{N}_{B}\ensuremath{\gg}1$, with $M\ensuremath{\gg}1$ being the QI transmitter's time-bandwidth product, ${N}_{S}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ its brightness, $\overline{\ensuremath{\kappa}}$ the target return's average intensity, and NB{N}_{B}NB​ the background light's brightness.
Quantum illumination utilizes an entanglement-enhanced sensing system to outperform classical illumination in detecting a suspected target, despite the entanglement-breaking loss and noise. However, practical and optimal receiver design to fulfill the quantum advantage has been a long open problem. Recently, Shi et al. [arXiv:2207.06609 (2022)] proposed the correlation-to-displacement $(`\mathrm{C}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}_{\stackrel{P\vec}{}}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{D}\text{'})$ conversion module to enable an optimal receiver design that greatly reduces the complexity of the previous known optimal receiver [Q. Zhuang, Z. Zhang, and J. H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 040801 (2017)]. There, the analyses of the conversion module assume an ideal target with a known reflectivity and a fixed return phase. In practical applications, however, targets often induce a random return phase; moreover, their reflectivities can have fluctuations obeying a Rayleigh distribution. In this paper, we extend the analyses of the $\mathrm{C}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}_{\stackrel{P\vec}{}}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{D}$ module to realistic targets and show that the entanglement advantage is maintained albeit reduced. In particular, the conversion module allows exact and efficient performance evaluation despite the non-Gaussian nature of the quantum channel involved.
Quantum target detection is an emerging application that utilizes entanglement to enhance the sensing of the presence of an object. Although several experimental demonstrations for certain situations have been reported recently, the single-shot detection limit imposed by the Helstrom limit has not been reached because of the unknown optimum measurements. Here we report an experimental demonstration of quantum target detection, also known as quantum illumination, in the single-photon limit. In our experiment, one photon of the maximally entangled photon pair is employed as the probe signal and the corresponding optimum measurement is implemented at the receiver. We explore the detection problem in different regions of the parameter space and verify that the quantum advantage exists even in a forbidden region of the conventional illumination, where all classical schemes become useless. Our results indicate that quantum illumination breaks the classical limit for up to 40%, while approaching the quantum limit imposed by the Helstrom limit. These results not only demonstrate the advantage of quantum illumination, but also manifest its valuable potential of target detection.