Quantum LiDAR with non-local modulation

Abstract

Quantum light detection and ranging (LiDAR) utilizes quantum entanglement and correlation to improve precision, noise resilience and covertness of target detection. Despite recent advances, the development of a quantum LiDAR system that simultaneously achieves high precision and a large measurement range remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate a quantum amplitude-modulated continuous wave LiDAR with micrometer precision achievable via increased acquisition time and meter-scale measurement range. In our demonstration, the signal photons directly illuminate the target, while the idler photons are non-locally modulated with a high-frequency cosine wave and never interact with the target. By leveraging the non-local modulation and the quantum correlation, the target detection is achieved with a precision of 0.64 $\pm$ 0.06 mm within one second over a measurement range of 2-8 m. As the acquisition time is up to 500 s, the system achieves a precision of 29 $\pm\ 4{\ \mathrm{μm}}$. Furthermore, our system realizes a 50 times precision improvement over the classical single-photon scheme in a background noise 37 dB stronger than the returned probe photons. With these advantages, our method will open venues for the development of high-precision, long-range, and noise-resilient target detection.