No Arabic abstract
We optimize two-mode, entangled, number states of light in the presence of loss in order to maximize the extraction of the available phase information in an interferometer. Our approach optimizes over the entire available input Hilbert space with no constraints, other than fixed total initial photon number. We optimize to maximize the Fisher information, which is equivalent to minimizing the phase uncertainty. We find that in the limit of zero loss the optimal state is the so-called N00N state, for small loss, the optimal state gradually deviates from the N00N state, and in the limit of large loss the optimal state converges to a generalized two-mode coherent state, with a finite total number of photons. The results provide a general protocol for optimizing the performance of a quantum optical interferometer in the presence of photon loss, with applications to quantum imaging, metrology, sensing, and information processing.
We analyze the optimal state, as given by Berry and Wiseman [Phys. Rev. Lett {bf 85}, 5098, (2000)], under the canonical phase measurement in the presence of photon loss. The model of photon loss is a generic fictitious beam splitter, and we present the full density matrix calculations, which are more direct and do not involve any approximations. We find for a given amount of loss the upper bound for the input photon number that yields a sub-shot noise estimate.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has been often proposed for generating nonlinear optical effects at the single photon level; in particular, as a means to effect a quantum non-demolition measurement of a single photon field. Previous treatments have usually considered homogeneously broadened samples, but realisations in any medium will have to contend with inhomogeneous broadening. Here we reappraise an earlier scheme [Munro textit{et al.} Phys. Rev. A textbf{71}, 033819 (2005)] with respect to inhomogeneities and show an alternative mode of operation that is preferred in an inhomogeneous environment. We further show the implications of these results on a potential implementation in diamond containing nitrogen-vacancy colour centres. Our modelling shows that single mode waveguide structures of length $200 mumathrm{m}$ in single-crystal diamond containing a dilute ensemble of NV$^-$ of only 200 centres are sufficient for quantum non-demolition measurements using EIT-based weak nonlinear interactions.
Precise measurement is crucial to science and technology. However, the rule of nature imposes various restrictions on the precision that can be achieved depending on specific methods of measurement. In particular, quantum mechanics poses the ultimate limit on precision which can only be approached but never be violated. Depending on analytic techniques, these bounds may not be unique. Here, in view of prior information, we investigate systematically the precision bounds of the total mean-square error of vector parameter estimation which contains $d$ independent parameters. From quantum Ziv-Zakai error bounds, we derive two kinds of quantum metrological bounds for vector parameter estimation, both of which should be satisfied. By these bounds, we show that a constant advantage can be expected via simultaneous estimation strategy over the optimal individual estimation strategy, which solves a long-standing problem. A general framework for obtaining the lower bounds in a noisy system is also proposed.
Fragile quantum features such as entanglement are employed to improve the precision of parameter estimation and as a consequence the quantum gain becomes vulnerable to noise. As an established tool to subdue noise, quantum error correction is unfortunately overprotective because the quantum enhancement can still be achieved even if the states are irrecoverably affected, provided that the quantum Fisher information, which sets the ultimate limit to the precision of metrological schemes, is preserved and attained. Here, we develop a theory of robust metrological schemes that preserve the quantum Fisher information instead of the quantum states themselves against noise. After deriving a minimal set of testable conditions on this kind of robustness, we construct a family of $2t+1$ qubits metrological schemes being immune to $t$-qubit errors after the signal sensing. In comparison at least five qubits are required for correcting arbitrary 1-qubit errors in standard quantum error correction.
A significant obstacle for practical quantum computation is the loss of physical qubits in quantum computers, a decoherence mechanism most notably in optical systems. Here we experimentally demonstrate, both in the quantum circuit model and in the one-way quantum computer model, the smallest non-trivial quantum codes to tackle this problem. In the experiment, we encode single-qubit input states into highly-entangled multiparticle codewords, and we test their ability to protect encoded quantum information from detected one-qubit loss error. Our results prove the in-principle feasibility of overcoming the qubit loss error by quantum codes.