Quantum Antenna Theory for Secure Wireless

Communications
Said Mikki∗ ,
∗ Dept. of ECECS, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA, [email protected]*

Abstract—We provide a very broad outline for a new research

area within the domain of Future Antennas, namely quantum
antenna (q-antenna) theory and their applications to building Digital
secure digital communication lines. The proposed quantum
antenna theory purports to presenting a natural extension of
Communication
RF antennas in classical wireless to the now established field of Systems
quantum communications. The paper provides a bird’s eye view Signal
on the subject, highlighting the main themes and the expected Processing
results and benefits of such research domain.
Index Terms—Future antennas, quantum communications,
cybersecurity. Quantum Optical
Antenna Theory Communications
I. I NTRODUCTION
Quantum communications (QC) is now an established
frontier in high-tech Research & Development all around Quantum
the world, though most of this research is currently being Optics
conducted by universities and specialized quantum institutes
Classical
affiliated with the academic sector [1]–[5]. One of their main
Antenna Theory
advantages is the fact that quantum cryptography provides a
means to build unbreakable and fully-protected secure com-
munication lines (this is based on the celebrated no-cloning
theorem – valid only in the quantum regime – and other results, Fig. 1: The interdisciplinary nature of the proposed quantum
see [3].) Given the ongoing progress in fundamental exper- antenna theory.
iments verifying theoretical predictions about the feasibility
of long-distance quantum telecommunications (QTC), it is
expected, that quantum technology may enter into mainstream potentials due to the peculiar non-classical structure. Many of
industry within the near future by establishing commercial the researches conducted throughout the last decade in the area
mass production of sources, receivers, routers, and repeaters of quantum communication receiver design have attempted
pertaining to quantum networks. Quantum communication to explicitly exploit this inherent richness of the quantum
(q-communications) differs from classical communication (c- state by systematically searching (mainly through optimization
communications) by the mode through which information is methods) for best “measurement operators” in order to extract
physically processed and transmitted. In classical communica- the maximum possible information about of information from
tion links, information is transmitted by means of aggregates of the transmitted quantum state with good efficiency [1]. It
fundamental identical particle-carriers, e.g., electrons, photons, seems that less effort has been put on searching for physical
polaritons, etc, where the main “size” or “strength” of the realization of quantum states and the physics inherent in the
information signal is here measured by the energy of the process of radiation or state production. The goal of the present
carrier, which is an extensive quantity like length, volume, research is attempting to build a physico-engineering theory
and mass [6]–[12]. In contrast, quantum communications relies for wireless quantum communications. In order to achieve this,
on the pure quantum state as the main physical carrier of we propose dividing the program outlined here into two main
information [1]. Quantum states, whether pure or mixed, are components:
much more general – and hence more abstract – physical struc-
tures than electromagnetic fields and electrons [13], [14]. A 1) Quantum Antenna Theory.
quantum state does not necessarily require the electromagnetic 2) Digital Communication Transceiver Design.
field itself to be modified in order to carry information. In The present text will focus on giving some outline pertaining
fact, the electromagnetic field is only one possible physical to the first component, while the paper [15] elaborates the sec-
observable operator of the quantum state among others. This ond point. This research has evolved from considerations re-
makes quantum communications richer in content and latent lated to the use of semi-classical methods in solving problems
at the nano- and meso-scale [16]–[22] to the more complete Classical Classical EM Fields
program of second quantization [23], [24] of quantum field Current J Radiation E(r;t)/H(r;t)
theory. It was also further motivated by the realization that a
momentum-space approach is needed to deal with radiation (a) Classical antennas
and propagation problems in nonlocal metamaterials [25]–
[30], a technical fact that will play a role in the quantum Classical Quantum Quantum
antenna theory proposed here. A multidisciplinary approach Current J Radiation State |Φ(t)i
such as this is rarely addressed in the applied electromagnetic
(b) Quantum antennas
community, into which antenna engineering is embedded.
However, the author believes there is a need to upgrade the
semi-classical approach of nanotechnology to directly treat Fig. 2: The general structure of the the antenna physical
potential engineering applications where the concept of photon transformations.
is essential. This paper is an outline of such a possible research
program for the special case of antenna theory.
Eex (r,t) Jc (r,t) E(r,t), H(r,t)
/ F̄c (r, r0 ; t, t0 ) / c-channel /
II. C LASSICAL VS Q UANTUM A NTENNA T HEORIES
What is meant by the quantum antenna (hereafter, q- (a) Classical antennas.
antenna) theory? In order to better appreciate the peculiar
nature of the new research field here proposed, it may help to
Eex (r,t) Jq (r,t) |α(t)i
first review the concept of antenna as an engineering device, / F̄q (r, r0 ; t, t0 ) / q-channel /
after which the fundamental distinction between classical
and quantum can be formally given. Antennas are man-made
devices created for the purpose of converting energy electro- (b) Quantum antennas.
magnetic form from confined modes to open, unconfined, radi- Fig. 3: The fundamental operational modes of c- and q- anten-
ations modes that can be transmitted into unbounded domains nas. Both types requires a current Green’s function (ACGF) F̄
surrounding the antenna [6], [10]. In other words, an antenna is [10] to connect classical excitation field Eex with a classical
an energy conversion device with a very specific sense. Rather induced current J. Note that in both c- and q- antennas, the
than being a system that can convert one genre of energy induced currents Jc and Jq , respectively, are classical. The
to another, for example transforming chemical energy into difference, however, resides mainly in the “output” or the
electricity (battery), a classical antenna converts the same type radiation state, which is classical (quantum) in c- (q-) antennas.
of energy, the electromagnetic, from one mode of operation
into another [10]. The common mode of the electromagnetic
energy exciting the antenna is waveguide/transmission line the q-antenna |Φ(t)i evolves with time while the observables
mode, the guided-wave mode, where energy tends to flow are function of position only. In the Heisenberg picture (the
in one direction only, the longitudinal or axial orientation framework we will often adopt in our theory besides the
of the waveguide structures supporting the wave [31]. On interaction picture), the observables become functions of both
the other hand, the antenna, if successfully operating, will position r and time t, e.g., the electric field operator E(r, t)
convert this guided mode energy that is localized at the antenna or the photon number operator N (r, t).
input port into un-localized, that is, radiation mode capable
III. C OHERENT S TATE R ADIATION BY Q UANTUM
of traveling far away from the source that produced it [10]
A NTENNAS
(the source producing these modes being localized at the
antenna’s physical body itself and the near-field rim zone It has been shown as early as the beginnings of the
[27].) For quantum antennas, however, the physical process 1960s that a classical current sufficiently isolated from the
is fundamentally different from the one described above. The back-reaction of the quantum radiation will produce pure
information source is still a localized current distribution coherent states [13]. A coherent state, also sometimes known
J(r, t) as before, but the final outcome of the radiation process as Glauber’s state though they were discovered nearly forty
is no longer a localized radiation in one position or direction years earlier by Schrodinger in the 1920s, can be represented
(e.g., far field in a certain beamwidth), but rather a global mathematically by the simple form |αi, where α ∈ C is a
quantum state, which we denote |Φi. Fig. 2 illustrates this complex number. This state can be expanded in terms of the
process where we notice that the q-state is always produced by standard Fock’s n-state of photon radiation |ni , n = 1, 2, ...,
passing through the radiation zone of the antenna. The major (exactly n light quanta excited) via the expansion [13]
operational modes of c- and q- antennas, especially in light ∞
1 2 X αn
of recent research in classical applied electromagnetic theory, |αi = e− 2 |α| √ |ni . (1)
n=0 n!
are explained in Fig. 3. Relevant to the global nature of the
radiation state in q-antennas is the formal fact that |Φi does Further properties of coherent states have been developed very
not dependent on position. Indeed, in the Schrodinger picture, early in its history and can be found in excellent texts like [14],
 u(t)
/ Gq (t, t0 ; r) α(t)
/ q-channel |α(t)i
/
sm
/ q-encoding /
ρm

O
Fig. 5: The process of mapping M classical symbols to M
J(r) q-states in q-communications using a specially designed q-
antenna.
Fig. 4: The fundamental structure of the q-antenna prob-
lem. The q-Green’s function Gq (t, t0 ; r) represents the linear-
system-like properties of the antenna. The transformation from states ρ1 , ρ2 , ..., ρM , where each ρ is the density operator of
the complex state α(t) to the quantum radiation state |α(t)i, the state. This process is termed here ‘q-encoding’ and is
however, is nonlinear. Details of this derivation and other in- captured by Fig. 5. Consider a multimode coherent radiation
depth analytical aspects of radiation in q-antennas will be state |ᾱi given by
provided by the author in the expanded version of this paper. Y
|ᾱi = |αks i, (2)
ks

[32]. By means of this expansion, one can effectively reduce where the product state is formed over all wavevectors k and
computations with coherent states to calculations with Fock’s polarizations s = 1, 2. Here, we have
state, an approach we will adopt for applications to quantum ∞
− 21 |αks |2
X αn
wireless communication systems. It is also possible to use |αks i = e √ |nks i . (3)
n=0 n!
coherent states themselves as basis to expand every other state
since such states are known to be complete (in fact, they Digital information may be formed via a quantum encoding
are overcomplete, see [14].) The proof that classical currents scheme in which each complex number αks is assigned one
produce coherent states is not widely discussed in literature, symbol. That is, in a finite dimensional approximation of (2)
but often appears in quantum optics textbooks like [14], [32] in M dimension, we can write
and more advanced quantum mechanics works such as [33].
|ᾱi = |α1 i ⊗ |α2 i ⊗ · · · ⊗ |αM i , (4)
However, to our best knowledge, no proposal for developing a
comprehensive theory of quantum antennas has been advanced where αm ∈ C, m = 1, 2, ..., M, is the complex amplitude
so far. Indeed, optical antennas for instance, a topic now of the coherent state representation of the mth mode. On
widely popular, is not actually an example of what we mean the other hand, q-antenna theory will provide an alternative,
here by q-antennas. It appears that quantum optics favors more more sophisticated method to form the q-encoding mapping
the approach of free fields where the details of the current of Fig. 5. The idea is to utilize the newly derived q-antenna
producing radiation are ignored. This is quite understandable Green’s function in Fig. 4 to directly engineer the spectral
from the historical perspective since the invention of laser (moementum) representation of the multimode coherent state
and its rise in the late 1960s shifted research toward quantum produced by the q-antenna. The major key findings are the
optics and especially investigations related to coherence and following:
quantum correlation [13], [32]. 1) The radiated q-state ks-structure can be directly linked
to the spatio-temporal functional form of the classical
IV. M- ARY D IGITAL C OMMUNICATIONS U TILIZING excitation current distribution J(r, t).
Q UANTUM A NTENNAS 2) Classical array theory can be linked to the q-antenna
Helstrom’s classical study includes consideration of digital Green’s function Gq in order to devise special algorithms
and analog quantum communication schemes [1]. The discus- allowing engineering the q-encoding mapping from clas-
sion in that book focused more on the implementation of the sical information to q-states.
receiver (via an aperture-coupled resonance cavity followed 3) Quantum antenna theory allows us to better understand
by measurement at time samples.) However, even with the how spatial considerations in the Tx and Rx sides of the
recent revival of the topic, still there is no comprehensive q-communication links affects coding and reception of
investigation regarding how to generate the transmitted states information sent through a q-channel. These considera-
of the q-telecommunication link. This is not surprising given tions can be applied to the proposed q-MIMO scheme
that a quantum antenna theory has not been developed so of quantum digital wireless transmission.
far, though the required tools like Glauber’s theory and array The major idea here is that q-antenna theory permits us to
signal processing are available. One of the major applications go beyond the simple approach based on the expansion (4)
of the proposed q-antenna theory is to provide a direct path because in our theory the exact form of the relation between 1)
toward building applications for quantum digital wireless geometry of the q-antenna and 2) the spatio-temporal function
communication link design, especially along the lines of the of the excitation are both taken into account simultaneously.
q-MIMO architectures proposed in [15]. It will be shown that one can form a virtually unlimited q-
In general, for an M-ary digital communication link, one space constellations for digital quantum communications by
is interested in sending M symbols encoded by M different carefully altering the physical layout and/or excitations of
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