Phase and Intensity Noise Tracking for Time-Resolving Quantum Receivers

Employing quantum receivers to discriminate laser coherent states makes it feasible to achieve error probabilities below the standard quantum limit (SQL), particularly for photon-starved optical communication. However, the quantum receiver performance for phase shift keyed coherent states is severely degraded by random phase and intensity noise in realistic communication channels. This paper proposes a phase and intensity noise-tracking method based on the cubature Kalman filter (CKF) to improve the performance of time-resolving quantum receivers. The filter leverages the data collected during time-resolving state discrimination to perform real-time estimation and correction of time-varying phase and intensity noise. By conducting numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed noise-tracking method enables the time-resolving quantum receiver to retain its superiority over the SQL while requiring significantly less computational effort than a Bayesian estimator. Additionally, the robustness against practical imperfections, including dead time and dark count rate of single photon detector (SPD), is shown through the simulations.