Optimal receiver for binary coherent signals

Abstract: One of the most fascinating aspects of quantum mechanics is the principle impossibility of deterministic errorless discrimination of nonorthogonal signals, such as coherent states. On the one hand, it prevents perfect cloning of quantum states and enables secure communication. On the other hand, it makes a grand challenge to reach the ultimate measurement precision. Although the minimum possible error rate (the Helstrom bound) has been known for almost five decades, there is no practical way to achieve it. Developing the realistic optimal measurement strategies to attain the Helstrom bound is of utmost importance for high-precision applications, long-distance free-space and optical fiber communication, gravitational wave detection, optical sensing in biology and medicine, to name a few. In this work, we show an optimal receiver for coherent states which admits a relatively simple technological implementation. The receiver is based on multichannel splitting of the signal, followed by feed-forward signal displacement and photon detection.