Bloch Sphere Representation of Polarimetric SAR Targets
This paper uses the Bloch sphere formalism to introduce a quantum-inspired representation of full polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) targets. By mapping SAR target vectors to qubit states in an orthonormal trihedral-dihedral basis, we demonstrate that scattering mechanisms can be effectively modeled as quantum states. Our method constructs a real 4D Stokes-like vector from the expectation values of Pauli spin operators, providing a geometrically interpretable Bloch vector. This vector precisely locates target states on the unit sphere, enabling intuitive visualization of scattering behavior for polarimetric analysis. The proposed qubit representation enhances interpretability and paves the way for quantum-computational processing of polarimetric SAR data in remote sensing applications.
Authors
- Abhinav Verma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8349-8697)
- Avik Bhattacharya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6720-6108)
Institutions
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1109/lgrs.2025.3592360
- Primary Topic
- Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00