[OCQT Seminar] Quantum Radar with Undetected Photons

OIST Centre for Quantum Technologies (OCQT) Seminar

The OIST Center for Quantum Technologies (OCQT) is pleased to invite you to the next installment of the OCQT Seminar Series. This time, we are excited to host Dr. Diego Dalvit from Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), who will deliver a talk entitled:
“Quantum Radar with Undetected Photons”

Date and time

Wednesday, June 10, 2026, 10:00–11:30

10:00–10:30 — Networking with coffee and sweets
10:30–11:30 — Seminar

Location

Seminar Room L5D23 (Lab 5, Level D)

Abstract

Quantum sensing promises to revolutionize sensing applications by employing quantum states of light or matter as sensing probes. Photons are the clear choice as quantum probes for remote sensing because they can travel to and interact with a distant target.

Existing schemes are mainly based on the quantum illumination framework, which requires a quantum memory to store a single photon of an initially entangled pair until its twin reflects off a target and returns for final correlation measurements. Existing demonstrations are limited to tabletop experiments, and expanding the sensing range faces various roadblocks, including long-time quantum storage and photon loss and noise when transmitting quantum signals over long distances.

We propose a novel quantum sensing framework that addresses these challenges using quantum frequency combs with path identity for remote sensing of signatures (``qCOMBPASS"). The combination of one key quantum phenomenon and two quantum resources, namely quantum induced coherence by path identity, quantum frequency combs, and two-mode squeezed light, allows for quantum remote sensing without requiring a quantum memory.

The proposed scheme is akin to a quantum radar based on entangled frequency comb pairs that uses path identity to detect/range/sense a remote target of interest by measuring pulses of one comb in the pair that never flew to target, but that contains target information ``teleported" by quantum-induced coherence from the other comb in the pair that did fly to target but is not detected.

This work was recently published in D.A.R. Dalvit et.al., Quantum Frequency Combs with Path Identity for Quantum Remote Sensing, PRX 14, 041058 (2024).

Biography

Diego Dalvit is a Senior Staff Member at the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is a quantum optics theorist with expertise in quantum sensing and metrology, Casimir physics, and metamaterials.

He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1998, came to LANL in 1999 as a Director Funded Postdoctoral Fellow, and was converted to staff in 2002. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and Optica (former Optical Society of America), and APS Outstanding Referee. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed papers with >10,000 citations. He has also co-authored 5 physics textbooks on Casimir physics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics.

He is the holder of two patents, including one submitted in 2024 in connection to his development of the groundbreaking qCOMBPASS remote quantum sensing technology. He has helped convene more than 50 talks, seminars and related activities during his career, has held membership in committees for Los Alamos activities, and has been a reviewer for funding organizations and for publications. He has helped organized seminars, workshops and schools on quantum physics subjects, also serving as mentor to postdoctoral and graduate students over nearly three decades as a scientist.

His hobby is competitive bodybuilding.