Multiaccess Quantum Channels

Shared communication channels are subject to multiple-access interference. Transmitter and receiver design techniques that explicitly deal with this interference have been shown to improve substantially the performance of communication systems over radio-frequency and other "classical" channels. Quantum multiple-access communication channels, on the other hand, have received comparatively little attention. In this paper, an input-output model for multiple-access quantum channels relevant to optical communications is proposed. The model accounts for multiaccess interference, signal attenuation, and random noise, and can be used in the analysis and design of communication systems. Using a result from optimization, a perturbation method is developed to find the minimum achievable error probability in small-interference channels. It is shown that the quantum measurement that minimizes the error probability in a no-interference channel is robust in the presence of small multiaccess interference. The results are illustrated with numerical examples, which show that optimal quantum detectors can significantly outperform conventional detectors even for moderate levels of crosstalk.