System and method for authenticated interrogation of a target with quantum entanglement
AssigneeRaytheon BBN Technologies Corp.
InventorJonathan L. Habif
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for authenticating a radar return signal include: generating an outgoing radar beam; generating a pair of entangled photons comprising a signal photon and an idler photon; combining the signal photon with the outgoing radar beam to generate a combined beam; sending the combined beam towards a target; receiving a return beam; detecting the signal photon from the return beam by a quantum illumination receiver; and making a joint detection with the idler signal.
Claims20
A method for authenticating a radar return signal, the method comprising:
- generating an outgoing radar beam;
- generating a pair of entangled photons comprising a signal photon and an idler photon;
- combining the signal photon with the outgoing radar beam to generate a combined beam;
- sending the combined beam towards a target;
- receiving a return beam;
- detecting the signal photon from the return beam by a quantum illumination receiver;
- and
- making a joint detection with the idler signal.
An apparatus for authenticating a radar return signal comprising:
- a radar for generating an outgoing radar beam;
- an entanglement generation device for generating a pair of entangled photons comprising a signal photon and an idler photon;
- a combiner for combining the signal photon with the outgoing radar beam to generate a combined beam;
- a radar transmitter for sending the combined beam towards a target;
- a radar receiver for receiving a return beam;
- a quantum illumination receiver for detecting the signal photon from the return beam and making a joint detection with the idler signal;
- and
- a processor for comparing the joint detection with a predetermined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.