English

Object detection and rangefinding with quantum states using simple detection

Quantum Physics 2023-08-08 v3 Optics

Abstract

In a noisy environment with weak single levels, quantum illumination can outperform classical illumination in determining the presence and range of a target object even in the limit of sub-optimal measurements based on non-simultaneous, phase-insensitive coincidence counts. Motivated by realistic experimental protocols, we present a theoretical framework for analysing coincident multi-shot data with simple detectors. This approach allows for the often-overlooked non-coincidence data to be included, as well as providing a calibration-free threshold for inferring the presence and range of an object, enabling a fair comparison between different detection regimes. Our results quantify the advantage of quantum over classical illumination when performing target discrimination in a noisy thermal environment, including estimating the number of shots required to detect a target with a given confidence level.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2307.10785,
  title  = {Object detection and rangefinding with quantum states using simple detection},
  author = {Richard J. Murchie and Jonathan D. Pritchard and John Jeffers},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.10785},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:35:47.924Z