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arXiv:2501.19008 · Physics Letters A

On the application of a Silicon photomultiplier-based receiver for binary phase-shift-keying protocols

Silvia Cassina, Michele Notarnicola, Stefano Olivares, Alessia Allevi

Published Mar 5, 2025• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Over the past decade, binary phase-shift-keying encoding has been used as a benchmark to test the performance of different detection strategies to address the problem of state discrimination. In this context, hybrid devices, giving access to both particle- and wave-like properties of light, could offer the possibility to better discriminate the sent signals. In this work, we consider a quantum channel exploiting a hybrid receiver embedding Silicon photomultipliers as photon-number-resolving detectors. We retrieve the discrimination error probability and the mutual information between sender and receiver as functions of some relevant experimental parameters in the case of binary phase-shifted coherent states. Our promising results, supported also with numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, foster further using this kind of hybrid receiver in more complex detection schemes. • We address state discrimination by a Silicon photomultiplier-based hybrid receiver. • The hybrid receiver gives access to particle- and wave-like properties of light. • We consider error probability and mutual information in a BPSK scenario.

DOI
10.1016/j.physleta.2025.130403

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Over the past decade, binary phase-shift-keying encoding has been used as a benchmark to test the performance of different detection strategies to address the problem of state discrimination. In this context, hybrid devices, giving access to both particle- and wave-like properties of light, could offer the possibility to better discriminate the sent signals. In this work, we consider a quantum channel exploiting a hybrid receiver embedding Silicon photomultipliers as photon-number-resolving detectors. We retrieve the discrimination error probability and the mutual information between sender and receiver as functions of some relevant experimental parameters in the case of binary phase-shifted coherent states. Our promising results, supported also with numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, foster further using this kind of hybrid receiver in more complex detection schemes. • We address state discrimination by a Silicon photomultiplier-based hybrid receiver. • The hybrid receiver gives access to particle- and wave-like properties of light. • We consider error probability and mutual information in a BPSK scenario.
In quantum communication protocols, the use of photon-number-resolving detectors could open new perspectives by broadening the way to encode and decode information and merging the properties of discrete and continuous variables. In this work, we consider a quantum channel exploiting a silicon-photomultiplier-based receiver and evaluate its performance for quantum communication protocols under three possible configurations, defined by different post-processing of the detection outcomes. We investigate two scenarios: information transmission over the channel, quantified by the mutual information, and continuous-variable quantum key distribution, quantified by the key generation rate. The preliminary results encourage further use of this detection scheme in extended networks.
In quantum communication protocols, the use of hybrid devices, giving access to both particle- and wave-like properties of light, could open new perspectives for novel encoding procedures that merge the properties of discrete and continuous variables. In our work, we explore the context of continuous-variable quantum key distribution with binary modulated coherent states over a pure-loss channel with a Silicon-photomultiplier-based hybrid receiver. In particular, we investigate how the key generation rate behaves as a function of the losses affecting the coherent states and the number of data used to send them both in the case of individual and collective attacks. The obtained outcomes encourage the further exploitation of this hybrid receiver in extended networks.
We propose a hybrid feed-forward receiver (HFFRE) for the discrimination of binary phase-shift-keyed coherent states based on the appropriate combination of a displacement feed-forward receiver (DFFRE) and a homodynelike setup employing a low-intensity local oscillator and photon-number-resolving detectors. We investigate the performance of the proposed scheme, also addressing realistic scenarios in the presence of nonunit quantum detection efficiency, dark counts, and visibility reduction. The present HFFRE outperforms the DFFRE in all conditions, beating the standard quantum limit in particular regimes.
We propose a near-optimum receiver for the discrimination of binary phase-shift-keyed coherent states employing photon-number-resolving detectors. The receiver exploits a discrimination strategy based on both so-called homodyne-like and direct detection, thus resulting in a hybrid scheme. We analyze the performance and robustness of the proposed scheme under realistic conditions, namely, in the presence of inefficient detection and dark counts. We show that the present hybrid setup is near- optimum and beats both the standard quantum limit and the performance of the Kennedy receiver.
Many receiver designs have been studied in the past to discriminate Phase-Shift Keying (PSK) quantum states that are used to encode information before transmitting over the communication channel. Among many types of quantum states, there has been significant work on the use of coherent states for encoding information. Previous work has sought to improve the communication performance in terms of various metrics such as error probability of state discrimination and capacities by employing more complex quantum states such as squeezed-displaced states. One of the simplest receivers for state discrimination is the displacement receiver. However, our calculation demonstrates that when we use optimal parameters for a displacement receiver, squeezed-displaced states might not be necessary, and merely using coherent states suffice. We see no performance improvement in terms of probability of error of state discrimination as well as mutual information using displacement receivers when optimal squeezing parameters are used with squeezing operation on the transmitter side for BPSK and QPSK. In addition, we also study the receiver design scheme for QPSK modulation where squeezing is employed at the receiver side. We find that using squeezing operation on the receiver side just before detection provides an advantage in terms of increased mutual information for the low-photon regime compared to when no squeezing is used. For all other cases, squeezing offers no additional advantage.
Phase estimation represents a crucial challenge in many fields of Physics, ranging from Quantum Metrology to Quantum Information Processing. This task is usually pursued by means of interferometric schemes, in which the choice of the input states and of the detection apparatus is aimed at minimizing the uncertainty in the estimation of the relative phase between the inputs. State discrimination protocols in communication channels with coherent states also require the monitoring of the optical phase. Therefore, the problem of phase estimation is relevant to face the issue of coherent states discrimination. Here we consider a quasi-optimal Kennedy-like receiver, based on the interference of two coherent signals, to be discriminated, with a reference local oscillator. By means of the Bayesian processing of a small amount of data drawn from the outputs of the shot-by-shot discrimination protocol, we demonstrate the achievement of the minimum uncertainty in phase estimation, also in the presence of uniform phase noise. Moreover, we show that the use of photon-number resolving detectors in the receiver improves the phase-estimation strategy, especially with respect to the usually employed on/off detectors. From the experimental point of view, this comparison is realized by employing hybrid photodetectors.