Quantum Quadrature Amplitude Modulation with Photon-Added Gaussian States

Quantum communication systems exchange information between a source and a destination by encoding such information into quantum states according to modulation techniques. The design of quantum modulation techniques, including quantum quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), requires choosing and characterizing quantum states. This paper explores the use of non-Gaussian photon-added Gaussian states (PAGSs) for quantum QAM communications. First, we characterize pure PAGSs in the Fock space and derive a closed-form expression for their inner product. Then, we develop a quantum QAM technique employing PAGSs. In particular, we show how to construct quantum QAM constellations of PAGSs. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the developed quantum QAM technique with PAGSs, when a square root measurement (SRM) receiver is employed, and compare such performance with that of existing coherent states. Results show that PAGSs can provide a performance gain with respect to coherent states.