Radar system and method

1 . A radar system, comprising:

a radiation transmission unit, a radiation collection unit, a local oscillator, and a processing unit;

the radiation transmission unit is configured for generating electromagnetic radiation formed by a plurality of pairs of quantum entangled photons comprising first transmitted photons (signal) and second reference photons (idler); the radiation transmission unit is configured to transmit an interrogating signal formed of the first transmitted photons toward a region to be inspected and to measure the second reference photons to obtain and store measured data thereof;

the radiation collection unit comprises an array of single photon detectors (SPDS), each SPDS is configured to receive photons reflected from one or more objects in said region and generate data indicative of one or more parameters of the collected photons, wherein the data comprises data on spatial arrangement of collected radiation, and wherein each SPDS comprises one or more color centers within a crystal structure; and

the processing unit is configured to receive stored measured data on the second reference photons from the radiation transmission unit and data of parameters of the collected photons from the radiation collection unit, and to determine correlation between the measured reference photons and the collected photons to thereby differentiate within the collected photons between noise and reflection of said first transmitted photons from one or more objects in the region to be inspected;

wherein said radiation transmission unit is operable to determine phase of the second reference photons with respect to phase of said local oscillator and provide measured data comprising phase relation distribution of said second reference photons, said radiation collection unit operates for determining phase relations between collected photons and phase of said local oscillator, thereby enabling said processing unit to determine phase relation distribution correlation between the measured reference photons and the collected photons.

2 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein said radiation transmission unit further comprises a radiation amplifying unit configured to provide coherent amplification to said first transmitted photons to thereby enhance intensity of transmitted signal.

3 . The radar system of claim 2 , wherein said amplifying unit comprises a maser amplifier.

4 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein said SPDS are operated for detection of electromagnetic radiation within a selected frequency range.

5 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein said one or more color centers comprise one or more nitrogen-vacancy (NV)-centers.

6 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein a drive unit of said SPDS is synchronized with said local oscillator.

7 . The radar system, of claim 1 , wherein said processing unit is configured and operable for determining data on collected radiation wavefront based on collected photons having correlation with said second reference photons above a predetermined threshold, said data on collected radiation wavefront is thereby determined based on collection of the entangled first photons.

8 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein said electromagnetic radiation is within microwave frequency range.

9 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein said radiation collection unit is configured for sweeping over frequency of collected photons, thereby enabling detection of doppler shifts in collected radiation.

10 . A method for use in a radar system, the method comprising:

generating one or more pairs of entangled photons, transmitting an interrogating signal formed of first photons toward a selected region, and detecting second photons to determine one or more parameters thereof;

using a radiation collection unit comprising an array of single photon detectors (SPDS), each comprising one or more color centers within a crystal structure, and collecting radiation arriving from said selected region and generating data about collected photons;

processing said data about collected photons and determining correlation between collected photons and parameters of said second photons, generating data of collected entangled radiation formed by photons having correlation above a predetermined threshold;

processing said data of collected entangled radiation and determining data on one or more objects in said selected region;

wherein said detecting second photons to determine one or more parameters thereof comprises detecting said second photons with respect to a local oscillator and determining reference data comprising phase relation distribution of said second photons, and wherein collecting radiation arriving from said selected region comprises detecting collected photons with respect to said local oscillator and determining phase relation distribution of said collected photons, and wherein said determining correlation between collected photons and parameters of said second photons comprises determining correlation in phase relation distribution between said second photons and said collected photons.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising transmitting the first photons through a coherent amplifier for amplifying the transmitted signal while maintaining entanglement between the first and second photons.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said collecting radiation comprises using a detection unit formed by an array of NV-based detecting elements thereby detecting photons of the collected radiation and determining phase information of the collected photons.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said parameters of the second photons comprise phase of the second photons with respect to a predetermined cycle, said determining correlation of collected photons and parameters of said second photons comprises determining phase data of the collected photon with respect to the predetermined cycle and determining variation in phase with respect to the predetermined cycle with that of the second photons.