Quantum-enhanced quickest change detection of transmission loss

Augmenting a train of bright phase-modulated laser-light pulses of a coherent communications system with infinitesimally small quantum photons per pulse – entangled across several time bins – prepared by splitting squeezed light in a temporal-mode interferometer can dramatically enhance a homodyne receiver’s ability to detect a sudden change in the channel loss, by up to a factor that is the inverse of the pre-change loss, without affecting the communications rate. We discuss the quantum limit of quickest change detection, and the problem of joint communications and change detection that our study opens up.