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:2411.02678 · Physical Review Letters

Random Distillation Protocols in Long Baseline Telescopy

Yunkai Wang, Eric Chitambar

Published Apr 30, 2025• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In quantum-enhanced astronomical imaging, multiple distant apertures work together by utilizing quantum resources distributed from a central server. Our findings suggest that preprocessing the stellar light received by all telescopes can improve imaging performance without increasing resource consumption. The preprocessing leverages weak quantum measurements and modifies random-party entanglement distillation protocols from quantum information science. Intuitively, this approach allows us to collapse the stellar light that is originally coherent between all telescopes to one pair of telescopes with probability arbitrarily close to one. The central server can then distribute entanglement solely to the pair of telescopes receiving a photon, thereby enhancing the efficiency of resource utilization. We discuss two types of resources that benefit from this preprocessing: shared entanglement and a shared reference frame.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.134.170801

Related papers

Quantum resolution limit of long-baseline imaging using distributed entanglement

Isack Padilla, Aqil Sajjad, Babak N. Saif +1 more

It has been shown that shared entanglement between two telescope sites can in principle be used to localize a point source by mimicking the standard phase-scanning interferometer, but without physically bringing the light from the distant telescopes together. In this paper, we show that a receiver that employs spatial-mode sorting at each telescope site, combined with pre-shared entanglement and local quantum operations can be used to mimic the most general multimode interferometer acting on light collected from the telescopes. As an example application to a quantitative passive-imaging problem, we show that the quantum-limited precision of estimating the angular separation between two stars can be attained by an instantiation of the aforesaid entanglement based receiver. We discuss how this entanglement assisted strategy can be used to achieve the quantum-limited precision of any complex quantitative imaging task involving any number of telescopes. We provide a blueprint of this general receiver that involves quantum transduction of starlight into quantum memory banks and spatial mode sorters deployed at each telescope site, and measurements that include optical detection as well as qubit gates and measurements on the quantum memories. We discuss the relative Fisher-information contributions of local mode sorting at telescope sites vis-a-vis distributed entanglement-assisted interferometry, to the overall quantum-limited information about the scene, based on the ratio of the baseline distance to the individual telescope diameter.

arXiv:2406.16789•Physical Review A•Nov 7, 2025•2 citations

Quantum entanglement as a tool to image distant astronomical objects

Particles entangled over long distances can, in theory, improve the sensitivity of long-baseline interferometers that are observing weak thermal light sources. A proof-of-concept experiment now demonstrates entanglement-assisted interferometry, paving the way for entanglement-enhanced non‑local sensing techniques. The resolution of telescope arrays detecting faint light signals could be improved using a quantum trick.

Nature•Mar 11, 2026•0 citations

Superresolution Imaging with Entanglement-Enhanced Telescopy

Isack Padilla, Aqil Sajjad, Babak N. Saif +1 more

Long-baseline interferometry will be possible using preshared entanglement between two telescope sites to mimic the standard phase-scanning interferometer, but without physical beam combination. We show that spatial-mode sorting at each telescope, along with preshared entanglement, can be used to realize the most general multimode interferometry on light collected by any number of telescopes, enabling achieving quantitative-imaging performance at the ultimate limit pursuant to the baseline as afforded by quantum theory. We work out an explicit example involving two telescopes imaging two point sources.

arXiv:2504.03117•Physical Review Letters•Nov 10, 2025•3 citations

Criteria for optimal entanglement-assisted long baseline telescopy

Yujie Zhang, Thomas D. Jennewein

Entanglement-assisted telescopy protocols have been proposed as a means to extend the baseline of optical interferometric telescopes. However, the optimal entangled resource and a clear optimality criterion have remained unclear. Here, we propose a framework for systematically characterizing entanglement-assisted telescopy by integrating quantum metrology tools with the superselection rule (SSR) framework from quantum information theory. In our approach, the estimation problem in quantum telescopy is rigorously quantified using the quantum Fisher information under SSR constraints. Building on this framework, we derive the fundamental limits of astronomical parameter estimation with finite entanglement resources and introduce protocols that outperform previous methods and asymptotically saturate the optimal bound. Moreover, our proposed protocols are compatible with existing linear-optical technology and could inspire practical quantum telescopy schemes for near-term, lossy, and repeaterless quantum networks.

arXiv:2501.16670•Physical Review Research•Nov 18, 2025•1 citation

Quantum-Limited Subdiffraction Telescopy Requires Genuine Multi-Telescope Interference

Yujie Zhang, Yunkai Wang, Wilson Wu +1 more

Conventional stellar interferometry reconstructs incoherent sources from pairwise mutual coherences between telescopes. Are such pairwise measurements sufficient for quantum-limited subdiffraction imaging with a telescope array? We show that for generic image-moment estimation, they are not. We consider weak incoherent light from a generic extended source observed by an array of telescopes, each supporting a single optical mode. For an N-telescope array, we derive the quantum Fisher information (QFI) scaling of image moments up to the cutoff 2N-2 and prove that arbitrary measurements restricted to telescope pairs attain the full-array QFI scaling only up to second order. Thus, estimating higher-order moments at the quantum limit requires genuinely multi-telescope interference. Inspired by spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE) from single-aperture subdiffraction imaging, we construct array-SPADE measurements that attain the optimal QFI scaling up to the finite-array cutoff. Finally, we show that these measurements can, in principle, be embedded in ancilla- and memory-assisted quantum-network architectures for long-baseline telescopy.

quant-pharXiv:2606.27276•Jun 26, 2026•0 citations

Entanglement-enabled interferometry using telescopic arrays

Siddhartha Santra, Brian T. Kirby, Vladimir S. Malinovsky +1 more

A protocol of measuring interferometric visibility function using imperfectly entangled states shared between remote telescopes is proposed. We demonstrate how quantum entanglement can be utilized to increase the baseline size of telescopic arrays thereby providing substantial enhancement to the resolution of direct-detection interferometric measurements. We demonstrate, through a comprehensive analysis, how errors in visibility measurements and in the intensity distribution of a distant object show dependence on the entanglement degree of the shared quantum resource. We analyse the feasibility of the protocol using currently available technology and identify the nature of sources that can benefit most from it.

arXiv:1705.05389•Journal of Modern Optics•Sep 5, 2018•6 citations
In quantum-enhanced astronomical imaging, multiple distant apertures work together by utilizing quantum resources distributed from a central server. Our findings suggest that preprocessing the stellar light received by all telescopes can improve imaging performance without increasing resource consumption. The preprocessing leverages weak quantum measurements and modifies random-party entanglement distillation protocols from quantum information science. Intuitively, this approach allows us to collapse the stellar light that is originally coherent between all telescopes to one pair of telescopes with probability arbitrarily close to one. The central server can then distribute entanglement solely to the pair of telescopes receiving a photon, thereby enhancing the efficiency of resource utilization. We discuss two types of resources that benefit from this preprocessing: shared entanglement and a shared reference frame.
It has been shown that shared entanglement between two telescope sites can in principle be used to localize a point source by mimicking the standard phase-scanning interferometer, but without physically bringing the light from the distant telescopes together. In this paper, we show that a receiver that employs spatial-mode sorting at each telescope site, combined with pre-shared entanglement and local quantum operations can be used to mimic the most general multimode interferometer acting on light collected from the telescopes. As an example application to a quantitative passive-imaging problem, we show that the quantum-limited precision of estimating the angular separation between two stars can be attained by an instantiation of the aforesaid entanglement based receiver. We discuss how this entanglement assisted strategy can be used to achieve the quantum-limited precision of any complex quantitative imaging task involving any number of telescopes. We provide a blueprint of this general receiver that involves quantum transduction of starlight into quantum memory banks and spatial mode sorters deployed at each telescope site, and measurements that include optical detection as well as qubit gates and measurements on the quantum memories. We discuss the relative Fisher-information contributions of local mode sorting at telescope sites vis-a-vis distributed entanglement-assisted interferometry, to the overall quantum-limited information about the scene, based on the ratio of the baseline distance to the individual telescope diameter.
Long-baseline interferometry will be possible using preshared entanglement between two telescope sites to mimic the standard phase-scanning interferometer, but without physical beam combination. We show that spatial-mode sorting at each telescope, along with preshared entanglement, can be used to realize the most general multimode interferometry on light collected by any number of telescopes, enabling achieving quantitative-imaging performance at the ultimate limit pursuant to the baseline as afforded by quantum theory. We work out an explicit example involving two telescopes imaging two point sources.
Entanglement-assisted telescopy protocols have been proposed as a means to extend the baseline of optical interferometric telescopes. However, the optimal entangled resource and a clear optimality criterion have remained unclear. Here, we propose a framework for systematically characterizing entanglement-assisted telescopy by integrating quantum metrology tools with the superselection rule (SSR) framework from quantum information theory. In our approach, the estimation problem in quantum telescopy is rigorously quantified using the quantum Fisher information under SSR constraints. Building on this framework, we derive the fundamental limits of astronomical parameter estimation with finite entanglement resources and introduce protocols that outperform previous methods and asymptotically saturate the optimal bound. Moreover, our proposed protocols are compatible with existing linear-optical technology and could inspire practical quantum telescopy schemes for near-term, lossy, and repeaterless quantum networks.
Conventional stellar interferometry reconstructs incoherent sources from pairwise mutual coherences between telescopes. Are such pairwise measurements sufficient for quantum-limited subdiffraction imaging with a telescope array? We show that for generic image-moment estimation, they are not. We consider weak incoherent light from a generic extended source observed by an array of telescopes, each supporting a single optical mode. For an N-telescope array, we derive the quantum Fisher information (QFI) scaling of image moments up to the cutoff 2N-2 and prove that arbitrary measurements restricted to telescope pairs attain the full-array QFI scaling only up to second order. Thus, estimating higher-order moments at the quantum limit requires genuinely multi-telescope interference. Inspired by spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE) from single-aperture subdiffraction imaging, we construct array-SPADE measurements that attain the optimal QFI scaling up to the finite-array cutoff. Finally, we show that these measurements can, in principle, be embedded in ancilla- and memory-assisted quantum-network architectures for long-baseline telescopy.
A protocol of measuring interferometric visibility function using imperfectly entangled states shared between remote telescopes is proposed. We demonstrate how quantum entanglement can be utilized to increase the baseline size of telescopic arrays thereby providing substantial enhancement to the resolution of direct-detection interferometric measurements. We demonstrate, through a comprehensive analysis, how errors in visibility measurements and in the intensity distribution of a distant object show dependence on the entanglement degree of the shared quantum resource. We analyse the feasibility of the protocol using currently available technology and identify the nature of sources that can benefit most from it.