  The ultimate goal and the theoretical limit of weak signal detection is the
ability to detect a single photon against a noisy background. [...] In this
paper we show, that a combination of a quantum metamaterial (QMM)-based sensor
matrix and quantum non-demolition (QND) readout of its quantum state allows, in
principle, to detect a single photon in several points, i.e., to observe its
wave front.
  Actually, there are a few possible ways of doing this, with at least one
within the reach of current experimental techniques for the microwave range.
The ability to resolve the quantum-limited signal from a remote source against
a much stronger local noise would bring significant advantages to such diverse
fields of activity as, e.g., microwave astronomy and missile defence.
  The key components of the proposed method are 1) the entangling interaction
of the incoming photon with the QMM sensor array, which produces the spatially
correlated quantum state of the latter, and 2) the QND readout of the
collective observable (e.g., total magnetic moment), which characterizes this
quantum state. The effects of local noise (e.g., fluctuations affecting the
elements of the matrix) will be suppressed relative to the signal from the
spatially coherent field of (even) a single photon.
