Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2023, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (6): 1772-1783.doi: 10.12305/j.issn.1001-506X.2023.06.21

• Guidance, Navigation and Control • Previous Articles    

From laser ranging to quantum entangled photon pair ranging

Shuang CONG, Yongqin WANG   

  1. School of Information Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
  • Received:2021-08-03 Online:2023-05-25 Published:2023-06-01
  • Contact: Shuang CONG

Abstract:

Laser ranging calculates the distance of a target by measuring the difference between the flight time of a single photon of the laser to and from the target and the clock. This technique has already had relatively mature research results and has been applied in ground, earth satellite and earth-moon ranging. Quantum entangled photon pair ranging is obtained by counting the time coincidence between an entangled photon, which travels between the satellite and the target, and another entangled light, and after fitting the data, the difference in flight time between the round-trip target is obtained. Since the entangled photon pairs are generated simultaneously, the obtained ranging results surpass in principle than those of all ranging methods including laser ranging. Currently, quantum entangled photon pair ranging has been theoretically studied for more than a decade, but its practical applications have just found its beginning. The principle, system contracture, equipment and devices, and key technologies used in laser ranging and quantum entangled photon pair ranging are reviewed in this paper. The laser radar, quantum radar and the ranging-related researches are also reviewed. The respective characteristics of above are analyzed, the similarities and differences are compared, and a theoretical basis is provided for quantum entangled photon pair ranging and positioning navigation. On the basis of this, the future development in the field of quantum ranging and positioning navigation is prospected.

Key words: laser ranging, lidar, quantum entangled photon pair ranging, quantum radar, ranging and positioning navigation

CLC Number: 

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