Estimation of the Influence of a Noisy Environment on the Binary Decision Strategy in a Quantum Illumination Radar

A quantum illumination radar uses quantum entanglement to enhance photodetection sensitivity. The entanglement is quickly destroyed by the decoherence in an environment, although the sensitivity enhancement could survive thanks to quantum correlations beyond the entanglement. These quantum correlations are quantified by the quantum discord. Here, we use a toy model with an amplitude damping channel and Lloyd’s binary decision strategy to highlight the possible role of these correlations from the perspective of a quantum radar.