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1. On new two-dimensional UHF radar observations of equatorial spread F at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01876-7  

   Rodrigues, F. S.; Milla, M. A.; Scipion, D.; Apaza, J. M.; Kuyeng, K. M.; Sousasantos, J.; Massoud, A. A.; Padin, C. (August 2023, Earth, Planets and Space)

   Abstract We describe a mode for two-dimensional UHF (445 MHz) radar observations ofF-region irregularities using the 14-panel version of the advanced modular incoherent scatter radar (AMISR-14). We also present and discuss examples of observations made by this mode. AMISR-14 is installed at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO, 11.95°S, 76.87°W, ~ 0.5° dip latitude) in Peru and, therefore, allows studies of ionospheric irregularities at the magnetic equator. The new mode takes advantage of the electronic beam-steering capability of the system to scan the equatorialF-region in the east–west direction. Therefore, it produces two-dimensional views of the spatial distribution of sub-meter field-aligned density irregularities in the magnetic equatorial plane. The scans have a temporal resolution of 20 s and allow observations over a zonal distance of approximately 400 km at mainF-region heights. While the system has a lower angular and range resolution than interferometric in-beam VHF radar imaging observations available at Jicamarca, it allows a wider field-of-view than that allowed with the VHF system. Here, we describe the mode, and present and discuss examples of observations made with the system. We also discuss implications of these observations for studies of ESF at the JRO. Graphical abstract 

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2. Belief propagation with quantum messages for quantum-enhanced classical communications

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-021-00422-1  

   Rengaswamy, Narayanan; Seshadreesan, Kaushik P.; Guha, Saikat; Pfister, Henry D. (June 2021, npj Quantum Information)

   Abstract For space-based laser communications, when the mean photon number per received optical pulse is much smaller than one, there is a large gap between communications capacity achievable with a receiver that performs individual pulse-by-pulse detection, and the quantum-optimal “joint-detection receiver” that acts collectively on long codeword-blocks of modulated pulses; an effect often termed “superadditive capacity”. In this paper, we consider the simplest scenario where a large superadditive capacity is known: a pure-loss channel with a coherent-state binary phase-shift keyed (BPSK) modulation. The two BPSK states can be mapped conceptually to two non-orthogonal states of a qubit, described by an inner product that is a function of the mean photon number per pulse. Using this map, we derive an explicit construction of the quantum circuit of a joint-detection receiver based on a recent idea of “belief-propagation with quantum messages” (BPQM). We quantify its performance improvement over the Dolinar receiver that performs optimal pulse-by-pulse detection, which represents the best “classical” approach. We analyze the scheme rigorously and show that it achieves the quantum limit of minimum average error probability in discriminating 8 (BPSK) codewords of a length-5 binary linear code with a tree factor graph. Our result suggests that a BPQM receiver might attain the Holevo capacity of this BPSK-modulated pure-loss channel. Moreover, our receiver circuit provides an alternative proposal for a quantum supremacy experiment, targeted at a specific application that can potentially be implemented on a small, special-purpose, photonic quantum computer capable of performing cat-basis universal qubit logic. 

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3. 648 Hilbert-space dimensionality in a biphoton frequency comb: entanglement of formation and Schmidt mode decomposition

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-021-00388-0  

   Chang, Kai-Chi; Cheng, Xiang; Sarihan, Murat Can; Vinod, Abhinav Kumar; Lee, Yoo Seung; Zhong, Tian; Gong, Yan-Xiao; Xie, Zhenda; Shapiro, Jeffrey H.; Wong, Franco N. C.; et al (March 2021, npj Quantum Information)

   Abstract Qudit entanglement is an indispensable resource for quantum information processing since increasing dimensionality provides a pathway to higher capacity and increased noise resilience in quantum communications, and cluster-state quantum computations. In continuous-variable time–frequency entanglement, encoding multiple qubits per photon is only limited by the frequency correlation bandwidth and detection timing jitter. Here, we focus on the discrete-variable time–frequency entanglement in a biphoton frequency comb (BFC), generating by filtering the signal and idler outputs with a fiber Fabry–Pérot cavity with 45.32 GHz free-spectral range (FSR) and 1.56 GHz full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) from a continuous-wave (cw)-pumped type-II spontaneous parametric downconverter (SPDC). We generate a BFC whose time-binned/frequency-binned Hilbert space dimensionality is at least 324, based on the assumption of a pure state. Such BFC’s dimensionality doubles up to 648, after combining with its post-selected polarization entanglement, indicating a potential 6.28 bits/photon classical-information capacity. The BFC exhibits recurring Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) dips over 61 time bins with a maximum visibility of 98.4% without correction for accidental coincidences. In a post-selected measurement, it violates the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH) inequality for polarization entanglement by up to 18.5 standard deviations with anS-parameter of up to 2.771. It has Franson interference recurrences in 16 time bins with a maximum visibility of 96.1% without correction for accidental coincidences. From the zeroth- to the third-order Franson interference, we infer an entanglement of formation (E_of) up to 1.89 ± 0.03 ebits—where 2 ebits is the maximal entanglement for a 4 × 4 dimensional biphoton—as a lower bound on the 61 time-bin BFC’s high-dimensional entanglement. To further characterize time-binned/frequency-binned BFCs we obtain Schmidt mode decompositions of BFCs generated using cavities with 45.32, 15.15, and 5.03 GHz FSRs. These decompositions confirm the time–frequency scaling from Fourier-transform duality. Moreover, we present the theory of conjugate Franson interferometry—because it is characterized by the state’s joint-temporal intensity (JTI)—which can further help to distinguish between pure-state BFC and mixed state entangled frequency pairs, although the experimental implementation is challenging and not yet available. In summary, our BFC serves as a platform for high-dimensional quantum information processing and high-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD). 

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4. A 300 THz tabletop radar range system with sub-micron distance accuracy

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32846-9  

   Blanche, Pierre-Alexandre; Neifeld, Mark; Tuo, Mingguang; Xin, Hao; Peyghambarian, N. (September 2018, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract We are presenting a compact radar range system with a scale factor of 10⁵. Replacing the radio frequency (RF) by optical wavelength (300 THz), the system easily fit on a tabletop. We used interferometric time-of-flight to reproduce radar ranging measurements. Sub-micron range accuracy was achieved with a 100 fs laser pulse, which correspond to 3 cm for a s-band (3 GHz) radar. We demonstrated the system potential on a simple target, and compared the results with radio frequency measurement using a vector network analyzer. We also present measurement with a more realistic model, a 3D printed reproduction of the USS Arizona battleship, for which a 3D model is extracted from the ranging data. Together with our previous demonstration of radar cross section measurement with a similar system, this report further validates our proposal to use optics to simulate radar properties of complex radio frequency systems. 

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5. Quantum-enhanced learning with a controllable bosonic variational sensor network

   https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-9565/ad752d  

   Liao, Pengcheng; Zhang, Bingzhi; Zhuang, Quntao (September 2024, Quantum Science and Technology)

   Abstract The emergence of quantum sensor networks has presented opportunities for enhancing complex sensing tasks, while simultaneously introducing significant challenges in designing and analyzing quantum sensing protocols due to the intricate nature of entanglement and physical processes. Supervised learning assisted by an entangled sensor network (SLAEN) (Zhuang and Zhang 2019Phys. Rev.X9041023) represents a promising paradigm for automating sensor-network design through variational quantum machine learning. However, the original SLAEN, constrained by the Gaussian nature of quantum circuits, is limited to learning linearly separable data. Leveraging the universal quantum control available in cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments, we propose a generalized SLAEN capable of handling nonlinear data classification tasks. We establish a theoretical framework for physical-layer data classification to underpin our approach. Through training quantum probes and measurements, we uncover a threshold phenomenon in classification error across various tasks—when the energy of probes exceeds a certain threshold, the error drastically diminishes to zero, providing a significant improvement over the Gaussian SLAEN. Despite the non-Gaussian nature of the problem, we offer analytical insights into determining the threshold and residual error in the presence of noise. Our findings carry implications for radio-frequency photonic sensors and microwave dark matter haloscopes. 

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