Minimum error probability of quantum illumination

作者:De Palma Giacomo*; Borregaard Johannes
来源:Physical Review A, 2018, 98(1): 012101.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevA.98.012101

摘要

Quantum illumination is a technique for detecting the presence of a target in a noisy environment by means of a quantum probe. We prove that the two-mode squeezed vacuum state is the optimal probe for quantum illumination in the scenario of asymmetric discrimination, where the goal is to minimize the decay rate of the probability of a false positive with a given probability of a false negative. Quantum illumination with two-mode squeezed vacuum states offers a 6 dB advantage in the error probability exponent compared to illumination with coherent states. Whether more advanced quantum illumination strategiesmay offer further improvements had been a longstanding open question. Our fundamental result proves that nothing can be gained by considering more exotic quantum states, such as, e.g., multimode entangled states. Our proof is based on a fundamental entropic inequality for the noisy quantum Gaussian attenuators. We also prove that without access to a quantum memory, the optimal probes for quantum illumination are the coherent states.

  • 出版日期2018-7-2