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Quantum Electronics

Noise-immune laser receiver — transmitters with the quantum sensitivity limit

Yu F Kutaev, S. K. Mankevich, O Yu Nosach, E. P. Orlov

Published Nov 30, 2009• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We consider the operation principles of noise-immune near-IR receiver — transmitters with the quantum sensitivity limit, in which active quantum filters based on iodine photodissociation quantum amplifiers and iodine lasers are used. The possible applications of these devices in laser location, laser space communication, for the search for signals from extraterrestrial civilisations and sending signals to extraterrestrial civilisations are discussed.

DOI
10.1070/qe2009v039n11abeh014145

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We consider the operation principles of noise-immune near-IR receiver — transmitters with the quantum sensitivity limit, in which active quantum filters based on iodine photodissociation quantum amplifiers and iodine lasers are used. The possible applications of these devices in laser location, laser space communication, for the search for signals from extraterrestrial civilisations and sending signals to extraterrestrial civilisations are discussed.
A laser receiver (LR) with an active quantum filter (AQF) (λ =1.315 μm) based on an iodine photodissociation laser is studied. It is shown that the LR sensitivity can be brought up to the quantum detection limit by increasing the AQF gain. Taking into account the space-time statistics of spontaneous emission of the AQF, the LR sensitivity is determined as a function of the reception solid angle and the recorder response time. Under the conditions of the experiments performed, the LR sensitivity is, to a good approximation, proportional to the square root of the product of the reception solid angle and the recorder time constant. The above dependence is confirmed experimentally upon more than a hundred-fold variation of the response time. For the reception angle that was three times greater than the diffraction-limited angle, the quantum detection limit was achieved, which amounts to approximately three photons for a 40-ns pulse for the unit signal-to-noise ratio.
The effect of background light on the sensitivity of a laser receiver with an iodine active quantum filter (λ=1.315 μm) was theoretically and experimentally investigated. Upon the reception of a 40-ns pulsed signal against the background of 2.5-fold attenuated radiation of a pulsed light source with a brightness temperature of 4 × 10 4 K, the sensitivity of this receiver for a signal-to-noise ratio of three and a diffraction-limited acceptance angle was experimentally shown to be equal to 20 photons, which exceeds the quantum limit by about a factor of two. This is consistent with the results of theoretical treatment and suggests that upon the detection of optical signals against the background of the solar disk, the sensitivity of this receiver should decrease by only 12%. This receiver was compared with a receiver employing a photomultiplier of the visible range. Upon the reception of optical signals with the same parameters against the background of the solar disk and an interference filter with a transmission band width of 5 nm, the sensitivity of a receiver equipped with an FEU-115 photomultiplier was shown to be equal to about 1400 photons for a signal-to-noise ratio of three.
It is proposed to search for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) at a wavelength of 1.315 μm of the laser 2 P 1/2 → 2 P 3/2 transition in the atomic iodine, which can be used for this purpose as the natural frequency reference. The search at this wavelength is promising because active quantum filters (AQFs) with the quantum sensitivity limit have been developed for this wavelength, which are capable of receiving laser signals, consisting of only a few photons, against the background of emission from a star under study. In addition, high-power iodine lasers emitting diffraction-limited radiation at 1.315 μm have been created, which highly developed ETI also can have. If a ETI sends in our direction a diffraction-limited 10-ns, 1-kJ laser pulse with the beam diameter of 10 m, a receiver with an AQF mounted on a ten-meter extra-atmospheric optical telescope can detect this signal at a distance of up to 300 light years, irrespective of the ETI position on the celestial sphere. The realisation of the projects for manufacturing optical telescopes of diameter 30 m will increase the research range up to 2700 light years. A weak absorption of the 1.315-μm radiation in the Earth atmosphere (the signal is attenuated by less than 20%) allows the search for ETI signals by using ground telescopes equipped with adaptive optical systems.
Optical amplifiers play a key role in a variety of optical communication and sensing applications. Their value in direct detection is in overcoming the thermal noise of the detector which can lead to significant improvements in sensitivity. However, even highly sensitive coherent detection can benefit from amplifiers that help to overcome loss and detector inefficiencies thereby improving sensitivity. While almost all optical amplifiers in use are of the phase-insensitive type, which must add noise due to quantum mechanical constraints, phase sensitive amplifiers can be nearly noise-less. Significant strides have recently been made in using phase sensitive amplifiers to realize highly sensitive receivers for use in communication applications. We consider the issues and advantages of using such amplifiers for applications in sensing.
Abstract The modern search for extraterrestrial intelligence began with the seminal publications of Cocconi & Morrison and Schwartz & Townes, who proposed searching for narrowband signals in the radio spectrum and optical laser pulses. Over the last six decades, more than 100 dedicated search programs have targeted these wavelengths, all with null results. All of these campaigns searched for classical communications, that is, for a significant number of photons above a noise threshold, with the assumption of a pattern encoded in time and/or frequency space. I argue that future searches should also target quantum communications. They are preferred over classical communications with regard to security and information efficiency, and they would have escaped detection in all previous searches. The measurement of Fock state photons or squeezed light would indicate the artificiality of a signal. I show that quantum coherence is feasible over interstellar distances and explain for the first time how astronomers can search for quantum transmissions sent by ETI to Earth using commercially available telescopes and receiver equipment.