QII-TAQS: Quantum-Enhanced Telescopy

望远镜的角分辨率是由探测到的光的波长除以孔径大小决定的。人们可以通过使用多个分离的望远镜来增加有效孔径大小，假设可以将信号相干地聚集在一起并进行干扰；这是大型射电望远镜阵列运行的原理，也是事件视界望远镜最近捕捉到第一张黑洞图像的原因。不幸的是，对于可见波长要做到这一点要困难得多。几年前，有人提出了一种改进形式的量子隐形传态，可以有效地将来自多个望远镜的信号聚集在一起；量子隐形传态实现了有效的无损信道。通过这个项目，一个由天文学、电子工程、物理学和量子信息理论研究人员组成的多学科团队旨在进行首次桌面演示，证明这种量子增强望远镜的优势。这项工作加深了对量子力学在多望远镜干涉成像中的作用和潜力的基础科学的理解，创造了与量子通信更广泛领域相关的分布式量子传感器，并设计了用于产生量子光并以高速率检测它的新技术，使研究具有多种应用价值。本项目支持学生的多学科合作培训、量子信息科学课程的扩展和发展，以及鼓励青少年和少数民族探索科学技术的公众宣传活动。本项目使用桌面光学试验台设置模拟单光子源和高度衰减热源形式的恒星源，以及模拟望远镜网络，该网络使用望远镜之间的巧合检测来确定来自源的模式的空间相干性。研究人员的目标是：1)首次演示量子增强望远镜的模拟源，每个收集模式使用一个单光子；2)通过实现更快的多模并行处理版本的协议来扩展演示；3)探索超越这种初始方法，使用全光方法和量子纠错技术实现更有效的多模操作。这项研究最大的长期科学回报将是开发具有量子增强性能的实用天文干涉仪。短期成果包括对分布式量子传感的更深入理解和使用量子光的新技术的发展，这两者都具有广泛的适用性，超出了天文成像。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The angular resolution of a telescope is determined by the wavelength of the detected light divided by the aperture size. One can increase the effective aperture size by using multiple separated telescopes, assuming one can bring the signals together coherently and interfere them; this is the principal upon which large radio telescope arrays operate, and what enabled the Event Horizon Telescope to recently capture the first-ever image of a black hole. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to do this for visible wavelengths. Several years ago, a modified form of quantum teleportation was proposed to effectively bring the signals from multiple telescopes together; implemented correctly, quantum teleportation realizes an effectively lossless channel. Through this project a multidisciplinary team of researchers in astronomy, electrical engineering, physics, and quantum information theory aims to perform the first proof-of-principle table-top demonstrations showing the advantage of such quantum-enhanced telescopy. This work develops a deeper understanding of the fundamental science of the role and potential of quantum mechanics in multi-telescope interferometric imaging, creates a distributed quantum sensor relevant to the broader field of quantum communication, and engineers new technologies for producing quantum light and detecting it at high rates, making the research of value for multiple applications. This project supports the training of students in multidisciplinary collaboration, the expansion and development of courses in quantum information science, and public outreach activities to encourage young people and minorities to explore science and technology.This project uses a table-top testbed optical setup with simulated stellar sources in the form of single-photon sources and highly attenuated thermal sources, and a simulated telescope network that uses coincidence detection between telescopes to determine the spatial coherence of the modes from the source. The investigators aim to 1) demonstrate for the first time quantum-enhanced telescopy with a simulated source using one single photon per collected mode, 2) extend the demonstration by implementing a faster multimode parallel-processing version of the protocol, and 3) explore going beyond this initial approach and implement more efficient multimode operations with all-optical methods and using quantum error correction techniques. The largest long-term scientific payoff of this research would be the development of practical astronomical interferometers with quantum-enhanced performance. Shorter-term outcomes include a deeper understanding of distributed quantum sensing and the development of new techniques that use quantum light, both of which have broad applicability beyond astronomical imaging.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.