Quantum Two-Mode Squeezing Radar and Noise Radar: Covariance Matrices for Signal Processing

Recently, the authors have built and evaluated a prototype quantum radar in the laboratory which operates at microwave frequencies. This radar, which they call a quantum two-mode squeezing radar (QTMS radar), generates a pair of entangled microwave signals and transmits one of them through free space, using the other signal as a reference to perform matched filtering. The specific type of entanglement is called a two-mode squeezed vacuum, a type of continuous-variable entanglement between two frequencies. Motivated by the success of these experiments, they try to better understand the entangled QTMS radar signals in this study. They do so by comparing it to a simpler, more conventional radar system, which they call a two-mode noise radar (TMN radar). They also show how both types of radars are related to standard noise radars as described in the literature. They find that the signals for QTMS radar signals and TMN radar signals have the same mathematical form and that they are related to noise radar by a simple mathematical transformation. This shows that QTMS radar signals can be emulated by a fictional, idealised TMN radar and that it is possible to apply results from the noise radar literature to QTMS radar.