Quantum Reading of Digital Memories

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that quantum light sources can retrieve more information from digital memory cells than classical sources, especially in low-photon, high-reflectivity regimes, with potential applications in optical data storage.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum reading model showing advantages over classical methods in digital memory retrieval under specific conditions.

Findings

Quantum sources outperform classical in low-photon regimes

Significant information gain with quantum light at high reflectivities

Potential applications in optical data storage technologies

Abstract

We consider a basic model of digital memory where each cell is composed of a reflecting medium with two possible reflectivities. By fixing the mean number of photons irradiated over each memory cell, we show that a non-classical source of light can retrieve more information than any classical source. This improvement is shown in the regime of few photons and high reflectivities, where the gain of information can be surprising. As a result, the use of quantum light can have non-trivial applications in the technology of digital memories, such as optical disks and barcodes.