Rydberg Atomic Quantum MIMO Receivers for The Multi-User Uplink

2025-06-02

AI Summary

This work addresses multi-user uplink communication by proposing, for the first time, a Rydberg-atom-based quantum MIMO (RAQ-MIMO) receiver architecture—bridging quantum sensing and classical wireless communications. We establish a cross-layer model linking quantum electromagnetic field detection, atomic response, and baseband signal processing, and derive closed-form expressions for the ergodic achievable rates of maximal-ratio combining (MRC) and zero-forcing (ZF) receivers under correlated and uncorrelated fading channels. Key contributions are: (1) a novel RAQ-MIMO system framework; (2) quantification of quantum reception gain—yielding per-user rate improvement by log₂Π, transmit power reduction by a factor of Π, and transmission distance extension by Π^(1/ν); and (3) mechanistic insights into how channel correlation and receiver design jointly govern performance. Under the standard quantum limit, RAQ-MIMO achieves ~12 bit/s/Hz higher average per-user ergodic rate than classical massive MIMO—equivalent to a 10⁴-fold reduction in required transmit power or a 100-fold increase in coverage range.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Quantum Machine Learning
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication
• Intelligent Robots: Multi-Robot Systems

Application Category

• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and multi-modal RAG
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

Rydberg atomic quantum receivers (RAQRs) have emerged as a promising solution for evolving wireless receivers from the classical to the quantum domain. To further unleash their great potential in wireless communications, we propose a flexible architecture for Rydberg atomic quantum multiple-input multiple-output (RAQ-MIMO) receivers in the multi-user uplink. Then the corresponding signal model of the RAQ-MIMO system is constructed by paving the way from quantum physics to classical wireless communications. Explicitly, we outline the associated operating principles and transmission flow. We also validate the linearity of our model and its feasible region. Based on our model, we derive closed-form asymptotic formulas for the ergodic achievable rate (EAR) of both the maximum-ratio combining (MRC) and zero-forcing (ZF) receivers operating in uncorrelated fading channels (UFC) and the correlated fading channels (CFC), respectively. Furthermore, we theoretically characterize the EAR difference both between the UFC and CFC scenarios, as well as MRC and ZF schemes. More particularly, we quantify the superiority of RAQ-MIMO receivers over the classical massive MIMO (M-MIMO) receivers, specifying an increase of $log_{2} Pi$ of the EAR per user, $Pi$-fold reduction of the users' transmit power, and $sqrt[ u]{Pi}$-fold increase of the transmission distance, respectively, where $Pi = ext{ReceiverGainRatio} / ext{ReceiverNoisePowerRatio}$ of the single-sensor receivers and $ u$ is the path-loss exponent. Our simulation results reveal that, compared to classical M-MIMO receivers, our RAQ-MIMO scheme can either realize $sim 12$ bits/s/Hz/user ($sim 8$ bits/s/Hz/user) higher EAR, or $sim 10000$-fold ($sim 500$-fold) lower transmit power, or alternatively, $sim 100$-fold ($sim 21$-fold) longer distance in free-space transmissions, in the standard quantum limit (photon shot limit).

Problem

• Proposes Rydberg atomic quantum MIMO receivers for multi-user uplink
• Derives ergodic achievable rate formulas for MRC and ZF receivers
• Quantifies RAQ-MIMO superiority over classical massive MIMO receivers

Innovation

• Rydberg atomic quantum MIMO receiver architecture
• Closed-form asymptotic ergodic rate formulas
• Quantum receivers outperform classical MIMO significantly