Microwave quantum illumination based on cavity optomagnomechanics
Phys. Rev. A 114, 042451 – Published 23 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/svkd-kq19
Abstract
As an important branch of quantum sensing, quantum illumination is dedicated to detecting low-reflectivity targets in bright thermal background environments. Here we utilize the microwave-optical entanglement source fabricated by cavity optomagnomechanics to implement this technology in the microwave frequency band with natural bright thermal background. This is also the most widely applied frequency band for wireless communication at present. We first demonstrate the entanglement between the microwave output field and the optical output field of a cavity optomagnomechanics system. Then the entangled microwave signal is transmitted to the target region that needs to be detected, and the optical idle signal is retained for joint measurement with the optical signal up-converted from the microwave signal reflected by the target region. We evaluate the error probability of the proposed microwave quantum illumination system. The results show that, for transmitting the same energy, the performance of the proposed scheme is superior not only to that of any classical radar but also to other existing microwave quantum illumination schemes. Moreover, the scheme can be further extended to microwave quantum radar imaging.
