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arXiv:2605.13747

Optimal Quantum Illumination with Nonlocal Non-Gaussian Operations

Luis D. Zambrano Palma, Yusef Maleki, M. Suhail Zubairy

quant-phSubmitted May 13, 2026• Announced May 14, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Enhancing quantum illumination with highly entangled probes remains an active area of research. In this context, non-Gaussian operations provide an effective route for engineering probe states that can surpass the standard two-mode squeezed state (TMSS). In this work, we investigate a specific nonlocal non-Gaussian operation protocol and show that the engineered state using this protocol outperforms previously considered local non-Gaussian scenarios, engineered based on photon catalysis, addition, and subtraction under realistic conditions, including photon loss. Furthermore, by employing a $50{:}50$ beam splitter with photon-number difference detection, we demonstrate a significant enhancement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for target detection relative to the TMSS. Thus, our protocol exhibits improved performance, highlighting a resource-efficient and experimentally feasible probe for enhanced quantum illumination.

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Enhancing quantum illumination with highly entangled probes remains an active area of research. In this context, non-Gaussian operations provide an effective route for engineering probe states that can surpass the standard two-mode squeezed state (TMSS). In this work, we investigate a specific nonlocal non-Gaussian operation protocol and show that the engineered state using this protocol outperforms previously considered local non-Gaussian scenarios, engineered based on photon catalysis, addition, and subtraction under realistic conditions, including photon loss. Furthermore, by employing a 50:5050{:}5050:50 beam splitter with photon-number difference detection, we demonstrate a significant enhancement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for target detection relative to the TMSS. Thus, our protocol exhibits improved performance, highlighting a resource-efficient and experimentally feasible probe for enhanced quantum illumination.
Quantum illumination takes advantage of quantum entanglement to achieve low error probability for detecting a low reflective object embedded in a noisy thermal bath. The two-mode squeezed state (TMSS), which is a Gaussian state, has been applied to quantum illumination as the detecting states in experiment. The photon-subtracted TMSS has also been proposed to achieve even lower error probability. Here we study quantum illumination with non-Gaussian states generated by photon subtraction and photon addition. Helstrom limit and quantum Chernoff bound are evaluated for comparison between performance of states with the same squeezing strength and with the same signal strength, respectively. Particularly, states generated by asymmetrical coherent superposition of photon subtraction and addition are studied, which are shown by us to have better performance than symmetrical ones. We show that non-Gaussian operations enhance the quantum illumination by introducing both stronger entanglement and signal strength. We then give a strategy on how to choose the optimal states for the best performance in different scenarios.
Quantum illumination is a quantum sensing protocol primarily used for object detection, which aims to detect the presence of a target with low reflectivity in the free space using quantum light fields. Here we investigate a quantum illumination scheme using an entangled light source by performing non-Gaussian operations on the two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV) state in order to reduce the detection error probability and meanwhile improve the signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. We demonstrate that under the same squeezing parameter, the non-Gaussian operations can significantly reduce the detection error rate compared with the original TMSV state. Under the same average signal photon number, both the TMSV states with and without non-Gaussian operations can provide smaller error rate than that of the coherent state. In addition, we consider the balanced homodyne detection on idler and return signal photons as joint measurement and find that non-Gaussian operations can enhance the SNR of target detection by about 6--9 dB compared with that using TMSV. These results here demonstrate the advantage of the non-Gaussian entangled source in quantum illumination protocol and can find potential applications in target detection in noisy environment.
Nonlocal point-to-point correlations between two photons have been used to produce ``ghost'' images without placing the camera towards the object. Here we theoretically demonstrate and analyze the advantage of non-Gaussian quantum light in improving the image quality of a ghost imaging system over a traditional Gaussian light source. For any squeezing degree, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the ghost image can be enhanced by the non-Gaussian operations of photon addition and subtraction on a two-mode squeezed light source. We find striking evidence that using non-Gaussian coherent operations, the SNR can be promoted to a high level even within the extremely weak squeezing regime. The resulting insight provides experimental recipes of quantum imaging using non-Gaussian light for illumination.
Quantum illumination is an entanglement-based protocol for target detection. The use of a two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV) state as a type of Gaussian state has been widely discussed. In our previous study, we found that the quasi-Bell state, which is a non-Gaussian state, outperforms the TMSV state in the quantum illumination protocol with attenuation. In this paper, we construct a detection scheme using practical elements and demonstrate that it can outperform the TMSV state without using the photon-number resolution.
Quantum illumination (QI) exploits quantum correlations to detect weakly reflecting targets embedded in noisy environments with higher sensitivity than classical illumination (CI). We investigate the effectiveness of QI in a realistic setting in which the signal sequentially interacts with a noisy environment and a lossy target. The target is considered at a temperature distinct from its surroundings, while both the interactions are modeled as an action of independent beam splitters with different reflectivities. The detection performance is quantified using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the quantum Chernoff bound (QCB), the latter providing an upper bound on the error probability. The performance of the Gaussian two-mode squeezed state (TMSS) is compared with that of the optimal classical protocol based on coherent states (CS). The proposed model shows that TMSS consistently achieves a higher SNR than CS for a low-reflectivity target and an arbitrary phase change and remains robust against thermal noise. Furthermore, a sufficiently lower QCB is obtained for TMSS than in previously reported results, indicating greater distinguishability between the presence and absence of the target. These findings underscore the role of realistic modeling in improving QI-based detection of lossy targets, with potential relevance to quantum radar and lidar systems.
Quantum metrology aims to achieve measurement precision that surpasses classical limits in the estimation of physical parameters. In realistic conditions, however, its advantage can be diminished by interactions between a quantum system and its environment. This necessitates careful design of quantum resources that can sustain enhanced performance even under noise. Here, we investigate how a quantum non-Gaussian operation can provide an advantage in noisy quantum metrology. Specifically, we examine the effect of single-photon subtraction applied to a two-mode squeezed vacuum state in the task of phase estimation using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer under photon loss. The single-photon subtraction can be implemented either before or after the first beam splitter in the interferometer. By evaluating the quantum Fisher information for both the original and the photon-subtracted states, we assess the potential enhancement in sensing precision. We show that the enhancement occurs when photon subtraction is performed before the first beam splitter, provided that loss acts only on the signal mode. Our findings shed light on the role of non-Gaussian operations in noisy quantum metrology, clarifying when photon subtraction can yield a genuine advantage over Gaussian resources.