Since its conception a decade ago, interest in Quantum Illumination, a form of long-range quantum sensing, has grown steadily. Motivated by applications in defence, quantum communications and other areas, interest has now spread from academia to industry and government. The goal of the IQC Workshop on Quantum Illumination is to bring together a wide range of participants from these various domains to discuss the state of the art in laboratory research, the range of possible applications, and paths toward those applications.
There are a limited number of spaces for participants at the workshop, but all are welcome to apply. If you are selected to attend, you will receive an email confirmation with instructions for paying the conference registration fee, which is $325 CAD for industry and government participants.
Confirmed Speakers
Seth Lloyd, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Ned Allen, Lockheed-Martin, USA
Enrique Solano, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Fred Daum, Raytheon, USA
Archana Kamal, UMass-Lowell, USA
Jonathan Lavoie, Xanadu Inc, Canada
Jose Aumentado, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Jerome Bourassa, Qubic Inc, Canada
Göran Johansson, Chalmers University, Sweden
The workshop will take place in the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Center, QNC 0101
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
|
9:00 am |
Opening remarks |
| 9:40 am |
Frank Deppe, Walther-Meißner-Institut |
| 10:00 am |
Yingwen Zhang, National Research Council Canada |
| 10:20 am |
Thomas Jennewein, Institute for Quantum Computing |
| 10:40 am | Coffee break |
| 11:20 am |
Göran Johansson, Chalmers University of Technology |
| 11:40 am |
Jonathan Lavoie, Xanadu |
| 12:00 pm |
Marco Lanzagorta, US Naval Research Laboratory |
| 12:20 pm | Lunch |
| 2:00 pm |
Ned Allen, Lockheed-Martin |
| 2:40 pm |
Jerome Bourassa, Qubic Inc |
| 3:00 pm |
Lin Tian, Institute for Quantum Computing |
| 3:20 pm | Matt Brandsema, Penn State University Quantum Target Scattering and the Sidelobe Advantage |
| 3:40 pm | Coffee break |
| 4:40 pm |
Fred Daum, Raytheon |
| 5:20 pm |
Bhashyam Balaji, Defence R&D Canada, Ottawa Research Center |
| 5:40 pm |
Marco Frasca, MBDA Italia S.P.A. |
| 6:30 pm | Reception at the University Club |
| 7:30 pm | Dinner at the University Club |
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
| 10:00 am |
Seth Lloyd, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 10:40 am | Coffee break |
| 11:40 am |
Sandbo Chang, Institute for Quantum Computing |
| 12:00 pm |
Amr S. Helmy, University of Toronto |
| 12:20 pm | Lunch |
| 2:00 pm | Alfonso Farina, Overview on cognitive radar |
| 2:40 pm |
José Aumentado, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| 3:00 pm | Arul Manickam, Lockheed Martin Corporation Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy Quantum Magnetometer Sensor Affords Potential New Capabilities |
| 3:20 pm |
Thia Kirubarajan, McMaster University |
| 3:40 pm |
David Luong, Defence Research and Development Canada |
| 4:00 pm | Coffee break |
| 4:40 pm | Round table |
Abstracts
Frank Deppe, Walther-Meißner-Institut
Towards frequency-degenerate quantum illumination with continuous variables
F. Deppe1,2,3
1Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Walther-Meißner-Str. 8, 85748 Garching, Germany
2Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
3Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), Schellingstr. 4, 80799 Munich, Germany.
Quantum illumination protocols promise a better sensitivity than corresponding classical protocols in certain scenarios. In recent years, the underlying fundamental quantum properties of propagating microwave radiation have been proven in various experiments. Hence, a quantum advantage in radar has become a realistic option. In this context, the use of continuous-variable quantum signals generated by Josephson parametric devices and measured with photon counters has been proposed [1]. In this talk, challenges and benefits of frequency-degenerate approaches with band-tunable flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifiers are being discussed after introducing the state of the art in this particular system.
[1] U. Las Heras, R. Di Candia, K. G. Fedorov, F. Deppe, M. Sanz, E. Solano. Quantum illumination reveals phase-shift inducing cloaking. Scientific Reports 7, 9333 (2017).
We acknowledge support by the Germany’s Excellence Strategy EXC-2111-390814868, Elite Network of Bavaria through the program ExQM, and the European Union via the Quantum Flagship project QMiCS (Grant No. 820505).
Yingwen Zhang, National Research Council Canada
Noise reduction in quantum illumination using multidimensional correlated photons
When the idea of quantum illumination (QI) was first proposed, it was shown that by using entangled photon pairs, it is possible to significantly boost the sensitivity for the remote detection of an object under high levels of background noise and loss when compared to the use of classical light for detection. The amount of boost is directly proportional to the number of entangled modes between the photon pairs, such modes can be in position, momentum, time, frequency and etc. Due to limitations in detector technology, to date, only correlations in one continuous variable degrees of freedom (CVDOF), such as the temporal and photon number DOF, have been demonstrated for QI. Here I will present on how we implemented two such CVDOF in QI through the use of a new type of single photon camera, the Timepix-3 camera. Through the construction of a spectrometer around the camera and using the camera’s timing capability to timestamp the arrival of every photon detected on each of its pixels, we were able to employ both temporal and spectral correlations of the photon pairs for QI. By using the two CVDOF, background noise in QI is reduced by more than an order of magnitude compared to when only temporal correlations are used. The demonstrated technique will also be of importance in many other quantum sensing applications and quantum communications.
Talk given on behalf of Duncan England.
Thomas Jennewein, Institute for Quantum Computing
The quantum internet, and its applications
Quantum information processing and quantum communication are novel protocols that originate from the very fundamental and philosophical questions on superposition and entanglement raised since the early days of quantum mechanics. Strikingly, these new protocols offer communication task possible with classical physics. One very important example is the secure key exchange based on the transmission of individual quantum signals between communication partners. The big vision and frontier in this field is the development of a Quantum Internet, which establishes entanglement between many different users and devices. The Quantum Internet will readily transfer quantum bits, rather than today’s classical bits, between users near and far and over multiple different channels and could be used for secure communications, quantum computer networks and metrological application. I will discuss recent advances on implementations and tools useful for generating and distributing photonic quantum entanglement over robust channels including time-bin encoding and reference-frame-free protocols.
Göran Johansson, Chalmers University of Technology
From the dynamical Casimir effect towards Quantum Radar
Experimental Photonic Quantum Computing
Marco Lanzagorta, US Naval Research Laboratory
The Challenges of Quantum Radar
It has been recognized for over half a century that quantum mechanics defines the ultimate limits for sensing devices, and products of that recognition are now on the horizon of practical implementation. One of the most promising of those products is quantum radar. In general, quantum illumination-based radar offers a capability to significantly improve the tradeoff between energy and detection sensitivity compared to classical alternatives. We provide a back-of-the-envelope and implementation-agnostic analysis to glimpse the kinds of expected improvement that a quantum detection and ranging system could provide for applications of interest. Such analyses of course cannot lead to definitive conclusions, but we believe they provide evidence that in some contexts, quantum radar can be expected to offer realizable practical advantages over classical alternatives. To this end, we present a discussion of the several theoretical and practical problems that need to be solved in order to determine the extent to which the advantage of quantum radar can be realized in real-world systems. In particular, we discuss how the limited number of distinguishable optical modes in radar frequencies could be increased through the use of virtual modes.
A Lockheed Martin Perspective on Quantum Illumination
This talk is an introduction to quantum optical imaging emphasizing low frequency photons. The real obstacle to useful quantum illumination is decoherence of the outbound signal before it reaches the target. All propagation media are more transparent at low frequencies and thus low frequency systems are less susceptible to decoherence – though work on ultra-efficient superconducting resonators and other quantum technology components for exploration of quantum effects at microwave frequencies are just now emerging. Low frequency systems suffer from low resolution but resolution can be enhanced through the use of multiphoton entanglement, uncertainty squeezing and other quantum effects leading to quantum imagers with capabilities well-beyond classical ones. Here we recount some of the history of our efforts in the field and those of other researchers as well as discuss the implications and aspirations for quantum illumination generally.
Amplification Requirements For Quantum Radar Signals
Quantum illumination radars rely on quantum sources of two-mode squeezing vacuum to produce signals with quantum-enhanced correlations. The recent demonstration of quantum radar transmitters in the laboratory has shown promising progress in the technology. Amplification of the faint quantum microwave signals is however necessary in order to make quantum radars practical. Here we discuss the possibility of amplifying quantum signals while preserving a quantum advantage. We find that amplifying both signals equally cannot beat an ideal source of classically correlated signals, but can provide a quantum advantage over noisy classical sources. We also briefly discuss other amplifications scheme that may provide further enhancements.
Lin Tian, Institute for Quantum Computing
All electric-driven single photon emitter
L. Tian* , S. Hosseini, N. Sherlekar, B. Buonacorsi, F. Sfigakis and M.E Reimer
Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
* lin.tian.1@uwaterloo.ca
As one of the building block for a quantum network, heavy emphasis have been placed to develop a true on-demand single photon source, that emits one, and only one photon on demand at a high repetition rate. The current candidates include trapped atoms/ions [1, 2], color centers [3] and QDs [4, 5]. Although significant progress has been made, they still suffer from the intrinsic multi-photon emission due to the nature of two-level system under optical excitation, unless sophisticated techniques are used, for example, resonate excitation for QDs [6]. Such excitation schemes are required to suppress the probability of multi-photon emission. In this work, some preliminary results of an all electric-driven single photon emitter will be presented. The design of the emitter consists of two key components: a single electron pump and the p-n junction photo-diode. The promise of single photon emission is achieved by injecting one and only one electron into the pn juction, where one photon will be generated after e-h recombine, thus resulting in an intrinsically on-demand and deterministic single photon emitter. The single electron pump has shown a quantized generation of electrons in the GHz range, which in principle is the upper limit of the repetition rate of the single photon emitter. To ensure a clean path for electrons, the so-called p-n junction is fabricated with intrinsic materials where polarity is differentiated by induced carriers. This also greatly reduces the background noise introduced by dopants. Promising electro-luminescence signals have been observed in an analogous design where single electron pump is replaced with 2DEG (two dimensional electron gas).
Reference:
[1] Lodahl, P. et al. Nature 541, 473–480 (2017).
[2] M. Bock, et al., Nat Commun 9, 1 (2018).
[3] A.E. Rugar, et al., Phys. Rev. B 99, 205417 (2019).
[4] H. Wang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 113602 (2019).
[5] M.E. Reimer, et al., Nat Commun 3, 1 (2012).
[6] Y.-M. et al., Nat. Phys. 15, 941 (2019).
Matt Brandsema, Penn State University
Quantum Target Scattering and the Sidelobe Advantage
A system engineering perspective on quantum radar
There are many interesting questions about the future potential applications of quantum radar in the real world. For example, such questions include: cost, SWAP, achieving practical transmit power levels for long range applications, and terrestrial vs. space applications. The cost of quantum radars compared with the cost of classical radars is of high interest to hard boiled engineers. We compute the minimum cost for an optimal quantum radar, and we compare it with the cost of actual real world classical radars as a function of range. Our calculations show that the minimum cost quantum radar at X-Band is many orders of magnitude more expensive than the corresponding classical radar, even assuming the most optimistic wideband phased array radar architecture. We assume that the quantum radar is optimal; that is, the effective signal-to-noise ratio is 6 dB better than for a classical radar with the same transmit power and bandwidth at low photon flux per mode. We used the Nelder-Mead downhill simplex algorithm to design the minimum cost optimal QR. We ask for the minimum cost QR to achieve a given SNR at a given range on a given RCS target with a given data rate. This is a non-convex multivariate optimization problem with roughly a dozen design variables. We also suggest a dozen areas for future research on quantum radars, including Bayesian quantum mechanics for noisy macroscopic measurements of quantum effects using the Lindblad equation or the Zakai equation rather than the boring old Schrödinger equation.
Bhashyam Balaji, Defence R&D Canada, Ottawa Research Center
Radar Performance Analysis 101
In this talk, we motivate the need for quantum-enhanced radars by means of a sample real-world problem in public safety. We then go on to discuss radar performance metrics for rudimentary yet reliable performance prediction in simple scenarios. In particular, we show that the usual metrics used for quantum radar performance prediction in the literature based on SNR and probability of error are not meaningful concepts for proper radar performance analysis. We discuss the receiver operator characteristic curve performance metric. We illustrate these ideas in a simple example drawn from a QI-inspired experiment. We propose some research directions for experimental and theoretical aspects of quantum-enhanced radars.
Marco Frasca, MBDA Italia S.P.A.
Einstein equations and Cramer-Rao bound
We present a review of some recent results where Riemann geometry is used to obtain an optimal estimation of the parameters of a probability distribution, saturating the Cramer-Rao bound. We also show how a minimization of the Hellinger distance can be used to obtain a best fit of the parameters of two different probability distribution. A cursory look of the main concepts of Riemann geometry is given to make the presentation self-consistent.
Seth Lloyd, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Broader applications of quantum illumination
This talk reviews quantum illumination from the perspective of basic results in quantum information theory. The advantage of quantum illumination over classical forms of imaging arises because quantum illumination allows one to probe the effects of the environment by making measurements on the Choi-Jamilkowski state for those effects, rather than looking at their effect on semiclassical states. Using this result, we can expand the application of quantum illumination to a wide variety of applications in which we probe the environment using quantum states. Examples include spin sensing, temporal measurements in the presence of noise, and medical imaging.
Sandbo Chang, Institute for Quantum Computing
Quantum-Enhanced Noise Radar
We propose a protocol for quantum illumination: a quantum-enhanced noise radar. A two-mode squeezed state, which exhibits continuous-variable entanglement between so-called signal and idler beams, is used as input to the radar system. Compared to existing proposals for quantum illumination, our protocol does not require joint measurement of the signal and idler beams. This greatly enhances the practicality of the system by, for instance, eliminating the need for a quantum memory to store the idler. We perform a proof-of-principle experiment in the microwave regime, directly comparing the performance of a two-mode squeezed source to an ideal classical noise source that mimics its correlation structure and saturates the classical bound for correlation. We find that, even in the presence of significant added noise and loss, the quantum source outperforms the classical source by as much as an order of magnitude.
Amr S. Helmy, University of Toronto
Target Detection aided by Quantum Temporal Correlations
Han Lui, Zhizhong Yan, Bhashyam Balaji and Amr S Helmy
The detection of objects under large background conditions is a problem of fundamental interest in sensing. In this talk we theoretically analyze a prototype target detection protocol, the quantum time correlated (QTC) detection protocol, with spontaneous parametric down-converted photon-pair sources. The QTC detection protocol only requires time-resolved photon counting detection, which is phaseinsensitive and therefore suitable for optical target detection. As a comparison to the QTC detection protocol, we also consider a classical phase- insensitive target detection protocol based on intensity detection. We formulated the target detection problem as a total probe photon transmission estimation problem and obtain an analytical expression of the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. We carry out experiments using a semiconductor waveguide source. The experimental results agree very well with the theoretical prediction. In particular, we find that in a high-level environment noise and loss, the QTC detection protocol is able to achieve comparable to the classical protocol target detection performance but with 10-100 fold lower required time on target detection in terms of ROC curve metric. The performance of the QTC detection experiment setup could be further improved with a higher transmission of the reference photon and better detector time uncertainty. Furthermore, unlike classical target detection and ranging protocol, the probe photons in our QTC detection protocol are completely indistinguishable from the background noise and therefore useful for covert ranging applications. Finally, our technological platform is highly scalable and tunable and thus amenable to large scale integration necessary for practical applications.
Overview on cognitive radar
Cognitive dynamic systems are inspired by the computational capability of the brain and the viewpoint that cognition is a supreme form of computation. The key idea behind this new paradigm is to mimic the human brain as well as that of other mammals with echolocation capabilities which continuously learn and react to stimulations according to four basic processes: perception-action cycle, memory, attention, and intelligence.
The Impact of Cognition on Radar Technology is an essential exploration of the application of cognitive concepts in the development of modern phased array radar systems for surveillance. It starts by asking whether our current radar systems already have cognitive capabilities and then discusses topics including: mimicking the visual brain; applications to CFAR detection and receiver adaptation; cognitive radar waveform design for spectral compatibility; cognitive optimization of the transmitter-receiver pair; theory and application of cognitive control; cognition in radar target tracking; anticipative target tracking; cognition in MIMO radar, electronic warfare, and synthetic aperture radar. The book concludes with a cross-disciplinary review of cognition studies with potential lessons for radar systems.
José Aumentado, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Programmable Parametric Coupling Approaches to Microwave Measurement in Superconducting Quantum Computing
Josephson parametric amplifiers have become a key tool in quantum information experiments based on the superconducting circuits. They allow one perform low noise measurements of a microwave field, approaching the so-called ‘standard quantum limit’ for added noise. This allows one to measure the state of a qubit quickly, enabling many current efforts superconducting quantum computing. In this talk, I’ll discuss the basic mechanism at the heart of these devices and how it can be re-purposed to realize other useful functionality, such as circulation, isolation, and tailored frequency response, simply by reconfiguring a set of microwave drive tones. While this approach has proven to be very useful in a quantum computing context, it is based on general coupled mode theory and can therefore be applied in hybrid quantum systems and even ‘classical’ microwave circuits.
Arul Manickam, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy Quantum Magnetometer Sensor Affords Potential New Capabilities
The Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy Quantum Magnetometer program has been underway for five years and to develop new capabilities in magnetometry not possible with existing technologies. The project team has succeeded in developing the technology and has built an Advanced Development Model (ADM) vector magnetometers utilizing the technology.
The DNV diamond material and associated sensor system can fulfill magnetometry applications wherever there is a need for a detection of magnetic fields such as in commercial sectors of medical imaging, geosurvey, communications, magnetic anomaly detection, and magnetic navigation.
Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy technology can produce a hypersensitive magnetometer comparable in sensitivity to other highly sensitive magnetometers such as SQUIDS and SERFs. The real advantage of this quantum-based technology is its ability to produce a true magnetic field vector along with possessing very large dynamic range and bandwidth with negligible drift at room temperature, all in a very compact size. Other competing magnetometers with similar sensitivities are only scalar, require cryocooling or heat and magnetic shielding due to their limited dynamic range.
At the heart of the DNV Technology is a synthetic diamond that is manufactured by a Chemical Vapor Deposition process by which it acts as a solid-state equivalent to a traditional sensor that is a million times larger in volume to attain the same sensitivity and that must be cryogenically cooled, or heat stabilized.
The less than 1 cubic mm diamond has purposely designed defects that trap Nitrogen in its Carbon lattice to allow for the detection of magnetic fields with the help of introduced green light and radio frequency energy. The introduced energy causes the defect’s free electrons to change their energy states releasing a red glow, like a naturally occurring pink and sapphire diamond, such as the famous Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian in Washington. The pink/red glow is due to natural occurring trapped nitrogen responding to the green light portion of white light. This glow carries information directly related to the magnetic field that the synthetic diamond is resident in. The physics of the phenomenon predicts that very low magnetic fields can be detected, beyond what is achievable with all but the most costly and large sensors of today.
Thia Kirubarajan, McMaster University
Tracking and Fusion for Quantum Radars
When raw signals are received at a radar, radar signal processing techniques routinely used to detect potential target-originated returns that are buried in clutter. The detections (or plots) whose intensities exceed a certain threshold are used to initialize and maintain target tracks. Detections of tracks from multiple radars can then be fused to obtain global tracks. In the processing chain of a standard radar tracking system, algorithms for detection, association, tracking and fusion have become the key functions. With the emergence of quantum radar, these key functional blocks need to be modified to handle and take advantage of the idiosyncrasies of the quantum radar. The objective of this talk is to explore the (potential) development of new tracking and fusion algorithms for quantum radar-based surveillance systems.
David Luong, Defence Research and Development Canada
Toward a Performance Prediction Paradigm for QTMS Radar
In this talk, I will present recent results in quantum radar signal processing which will pave the way toward performance prediction for quantum two-mode squeezing radars (QTMS radars, also known as quantum-enhanced noise radars) and related radars such as standard noise radars. I will present an approximate analytical formula for the receiver operating characteristic curve of a QTMS radar. It is a function of the Pearson correlation coefficient between the internally-retained reference signal and the received signal. I will then present a formula which predicts the variation of this correlation coefficient as a function of range. Taken together, these results can be used to predict the performance of QTMS radar as a function of range. This is an important step toward a full performance prediction paradigm for QTMS radar.
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