Multi-Shot Quantum Sensing for RF Signal Detection with MIMO Rydberg-Atom Receivers
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2603.05913 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 6 Mar 2026] Title:Multi-Shot Quantum Sensing for RF Signal Detection with MIMO Rydberg-Atom Receivers Authors:Saman Atapattu, Harini Hapuarachchi, Nathan Ross View a PDF of the paper titled Multi-Shot Quantum Sensing for RF Signal Detection with MIMO Rydberg-Atom Receivers, by Saman Atapattu and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Rydberg-atom quantum receivers (RAQRs) enable electric-field sensing with quantum-noise-limited performance, yet their optical readout provides only magnitude measurements whose fluctuations follow Rician statistics governed by atomic projection noise, optical shot noise, reference-field injection, and short coherence times. These non-Gaussian, phase-blind measurements invalidate classical single-shot RF detectors and necessitate multi-shot quantum sensing strategies. This work develops a physically consistent multi-shot statistical model for RAQRs and derives both the optimal genie-aided likelihood-ratio test (LRT) and a practical phase-averaged LRT that removes dependence on the unknown RF-field phase. Closed-form test statistics and thresholds are obtained for both detectors, and the limits imposed by finite quantum shots-due to atomic dephasing and measurement backaction-are explicitly quantified. A fully non-coherent energy detector is also analysed, with exact detection probability derived using noncentral chi-square models. Monte Carlo results show that only 5-10 quantum shots yield major gains: the phase-averaged LRT closely approaches the genie bound and RAQR detection markedly outperforms classical RF energy detection under comparable received power. The proposed framework provides the first unified statistical basis for multi-shot Rydberg-based weak-field detection and underscores the potential of RAQRs for quantum-enhanced signal detection. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Signal Processing (eess.SP) Cite as: arXiv:2603.05913 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2603.05913v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.05913 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Saman Atapattu [view email] [v1] Fri, 6 Mar 2026 05:06:55 UTC (742 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Multi-Shot Quantum Sensing for RF Signal Detection with MIMO Rydberg-Atom Receivers, by Saman Atapattu and 2 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: eess eess.SP References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)