KECK INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES

       

Quantum Communication, Sensing and Measurement in Space

June 25-29, 2012
California Institute of Technology - Pasadena, CA 91125

Final Report

Workshop Overview:

Approaching the ultimate quantum-mechanics-limited sensitivities in space communication and sensing (remote or in-situ) holds the potential to significantly improve our scientific capabilities in future space missions. Examples are higher information capacity in communications, higher resolution and sensitivity in range and range-rate estimation, higher phase-estimation sensitivity in optical interferometry, higher resolution in imaging (including spectroscopy and metrology), and higher probability of object detection in active remote sensing.

The technical objectives of our proposed study program are to:

  1. identify the set of application areas in space communications and sensing that could benefit from novel quantum-enhanced techniques under realistic environmental conditions
  2. identify key performance requirements to realize the promised gains
  3. capture the state-of-the-art relative to these requirements in order to determine the research and development avenues that could deliver quantum-enhanced capabilities

Our goal is to have formulated several promising concepts by the end of this study, which can then be matured into viable space-technology concepts during the possible follow-on program.

Workshop Participants:

  • Rana Adhikari - Caltech
  • Markus Aspelmeyer - University of Vienna
  • Lukas Baumgartel - University of Southern California
  • Kevin Birnbaum - JPL
  • Don Boroson - MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  • Carlton Caves - University of New Mexico
  • Yanbei Chen - Caltech
  • Joshua Combes - University of New Mexico
  • Ben Dixon - MIT
  • Sam Dolinar - JPL
  • Gabriel Durkin - NASA Ames Research Center
  • Baris Erkmen - JPL
  • Vittorio Giovannetti - Scuola Normale Superiore
  • Saikat Guha - Raytheon BBN
  • Munther Hindi - ASRC Arts
  • Richard Hughes - Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Rainer Kaltenbaek - University of Vienna
  • Prem Kumar - Northwestern University
  • Paul Kwiat - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
  • Jane Nordholt - Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Timothy Rambo - Northwestern University
  • Keith Schwab - Caltech
  • Jeffrey Shapiro - MIT
  • Robert Spero - JPL
  • Mankei Tsang - National University of Singapore
  • Slava Turyshev - JPL
  • Michelé Vallisneri - JPL
  • Franco Wong - MIT
  • Nan Yu - JPL

Short Course Presentations

Slava Turyshev
JPL

Solar System Tests of Relativistic Gravity in Space: History, Recent Progress and Possible Future Directions
(3.3 MB .pdf)
(video)

Yanbei Chen
Caltech

Fundamentals of Optical Interferometry for Gravitational Wave Detection
(5.9 MB .pdf)
(video)

Vittorio Giovannetti
Scuola Normale Superiore

Quantum Measurements
(8.6 MB .pdf)
(video)

Sam Dolinar
JPL

Fundamentals of Free-Space Optical Communication
(2.6 MB .pdf)
(video)


Workshop Presentations

Baris Erkmen
JPL

Workshop Overview and Provocative Questions
(223 KB .pdf)

Don Boroson
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Classical Communication To and From Space
(1.5 MB .pdf)

Richard Hughes
LANL

Entanglement Distribution in Space
(1.1 MB .pdf)

Mankei Tsang
National University of Singapore

Quantum Limits on Sensing and Imaging
(401 KB .pdf)

Josh Combes
UNM

Recent and Ongoing Projects Plus Speculation
(1.6 MB .pdf)

Ben Dixon
MIT

Weak Values in Metrology
(1.2 MB .pdf)

Tim Rambo
Northwestern University

Implementing a Near-Optimal Receiver for Interplanetary Communications
(3 MB .pdf)