Quantum Advantage in Beam-Displacement Estimation for Inter-Satellite Quantum-Secure Time Transfer
Abstract
In this work, we investigate the practical feasibility of achieving a quantum advantage, in the context of inter-satellite quantum communication, of satellite position estimation. The investigation focuses on a quantum-enhanced scheme in which squeezing is added to the derivative mode of a Gaussian probe beam as a means of estimating photon-beam displacement. The performance of the scheme is compared against the standard quantum limit achieved by an optimal classical beam-displacement estimation scheme under a fair same-total-energy constraint. We find that although the benefit provided by squeezing rapidly diminishes as the inter-satellite distance increases due to diffraction-induced beam spreading and subsequent truncation by the finite receiver aperture, a quantum advantage can still be expected over inter-satellite distances up to approximately 100 km under practical satellite configurations. This distance scale between satellites is anticipated for Starlink-type satellite constellations.
Related
- Comment on J.Qin et al., Unconditional and Robust Quantum Metrological Advantage beyond N00N States, PRL 130, 070801 (2023) and J.A. H. Nielsen et.al., Deterministic Quantum Phase Estimation beyond N00N States. PRL 130, 123603 (2023)
- Quantum enhanced beam displacement estimation: sensitivity limits, optimal probes, and measurement schemes
- IS-RAFT: geometry-informed sub-pixel displacement estimation for X-ray speckle tracking
- Error-corrected function estimation advantage in multiparameter Hamiltonians
- Precision Limits and Non-Gaussian Advantage in Optical Phase Estimation under Preparation Constraints
BibTeX
@misc{wang2026quantum,
title = {{Quantum Advantage in Beam-Displacement Estimation for Inter-Satellite Quantum-Secure Time Transfer}},
author = {Ziqing Wang and Robert Malaney},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.41198},
eprint = {2610.41198},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41198},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum Advantage in Beam-Displacement Estimation for Inter-Satellite Quantum-Secure Time Transfer
AU - Ziqing Wang
AU - Robert Malaney
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.41198
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41198
AB - In this work, we investigate the practical feasibility of achieving a quantum advantage, in the context of inter-satellite quantum communication, of satellite position estimation. The investigation focuses on a quantum-enhanced scheme in which squeezing is added to the derivative mode of a Gaussian probe beam as a means of estimating photon-beam displacement. The performance of the scheme is compared against the standard quantum limit achieved by an optimal classical beam-displacement estimation scheme under a fair same-total-energy constraint. We find that although the benefit provided by squeezing rapidly diminishes as the inter-satellite distance increases due to diffraction-induced beam spreading and subsequent truncation by the finite receiver aperture, a quantum advantage can still be expected over inter-satellite distances up to approximately 100 km under practical satellite configurations. This distance scale between satellites is anticipated for Starlink-type satellite constellations.
ER -