Quantum Illumination-Based Target Detection and Discrimination

Abstract

Abstract : The main thrust of our program was proof-of-principle quantum illumination (QI) experiments to demonstrate QI s target detection capabilities. Supporting theoretical work to advance understanding and enhancement of the QI paradigm was also included. Our experiments demonstrated high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) quantum-illumination target detection in a lossy, noisy environment using an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) receiver, and explored the SNR's dependence on key parameters such as the signal attenuation, the noise level, and the OPA gain. We constructed a classical (laser) illumination system, which used homodyne reception instead of an OPA, and compared its SNR to the QI system s. Our theoretical work studied the use of dual-OPA reception as a route to account for random phase in the target return. It showed that such an approach is infeasible, thus indicating the need to do active phase-tracking in QI target detection. We also found that the single-OPA receiver still provides a QI target-detection performance advantage, in comparison to a laser system of the same average transmitted photon number, when the target return has random-amplitude behavior. Receiver operating characteristic comparison between QI and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier source showed that quantum illumination provides more than 27 dB of stealth advantage in target detection.