A versatile quantum microwave photonic signal processing platform based on coincidence window selection technique

TL;DR

This paper presents a versatile quantum microwave photonic platform that uses coincidence window selection to enable advanced RF signal processing functions like phase shifting, filtering, and mixing, leveraging energy-time entanglement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coincidence window selection technique for processing quantum microwave signals, enabling flexible, high-precision RF functions with enhanced robustness.

Findings

Achieved up to 15-tap transversal filtering.

Demonstrated finely-tunable RF phase shifting.

Implemented photonically RF mixing with quantum signals.

Abstract

Quantum microwave photonics (QMWP) is an innovative approach that combines energy-time entangled biphoton sources as the optical carrier with time-correlated single-photon detection for high-speed RF signal recovery. This groundbreaking method offers unique advantages such as nonlocal RF signal encoding and robust resistance to dispersion-induced frequency fading. This paper explores the versatility of processing the quantum microwave photonic signal by utilizing coincidence window selection on the biphoton coincidence distribution. The demonstration includes finely-tunable RF phase shifting, flexible multi-tap transversal filtering (with up to 15 taps), and photonically implemented RF mixing, leveraging the nonlocal RF mapping characteristic of QMWP. These accomplishments significantly enhance the capability of microwave photonic systems in processing ultra-weak signals, opening up new possibilities for various applications.