Demonstration of quantum-enhanced rangefinding robust against classical jamming

Mrozowski, M. P. and Murchie, R. J. and Jeffers, J. and Pritchard, J. D. (2024) Demonstration of quantum-enhanced rangefinding robust against classical jamming. Optics Express, 32 (3). pp. 2916-2928. ISSN 1094-4087 (https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.503619)

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Abstract

We demonstrate a quantum-enhanced lidar capable of performing confident target detection and rangefinding in the presence of strong, time-varying classical noise whilst operating with over five orders of magnitude separation between signal and background levels and target reflectivities down to -52 dB. We use a log-likelihood-based framework to introduce a new protocol for dynamic background tracking, verifying resilience of our system to both fast- and slow-modulation jamming in regimes where a classical illumination-based system fails to find a target. These results demonstrate the advantage of exploiting quantum correlations for lidar applications, providing a clear route to implementation in real-world scenarios.