No Arabic abstract
The optical interferometry has been widely used in various high precision applications. Usually, the minimum precision of an interferometry is limited by various technique noises in practice. To suppress such kind of noises, we propose a novel scheme, which combines the weak measurement with the standard interferometry. The proposed scheme dramatically outperforms the standard interferometry in the signal noise ratio and the robustness against noises caused by the optical elements reflections and the offset fluctuation between two paths. A proof-of-principle experiment is demonstrated to validate the amplification theory.
We propose a new framework combining weak measurement and second-order correlated technique. The theoretical analysis shows that WVA experiment can also be implemented by a second-order correlated system. We then build two-dimensional second-order correlated function patterns for achieving higher amplification factor and discuss the signal-to-noise ratio influence. Several advantages can be obtained by our proposal. For instance, detectors with high resolution are not necessary. Moreover, detectors with low saturation intensity are available in WVA setup. Finally, type-one technical noise can be effectively suppressed.
Large weak values have been used to amplify the sensitivity of a linear response signal for detecting changes in a small parameter, which has also enabled a simple method for precise parameter estimation. However, producing a large weak value requires a low postselection probability for an ancilla degree of freedom, which limits the utility of the technique. We propose an improvement to this method that uses entanglement to increase the efficiency. We show that by entangling and postselecting $n$ ancillas, the postselection probability can be increased by a factor of $n$ while keeping the weak value fixed (compared to $n$ uncorrelated attempts with one ancilla), which is the optimal scaling with $n$ that is expected from quantum metrology. Furthermore, we show the surprising result that the quantum Fisher information about the detected parameter can be almost entirely preserved in the postselected state, which allows the sensitive estimation to approximately saturate the optimal quantum Cram{e}r-Rao bound. To illustrate this protocol we provide simple quantum circuits that can be implemented using current experimental realizations of three entangled qubits.
In a quantum-noise limited system, weak-value amplification using post-selection normally does not produce more sensitive measurements than standard methods for ideal detectors: the increased weak value is compensated by the reduced power due to the small post-selection probability. Here we experimentally demonstrate recycled weak-value measurements using a pulsed light source and optical switch to enable nearly deterministic weak-value amplification of a mirror tilt. Using photon counting detectors, we demonstrate a signal improvement by a factor of $4.4 pm 0.2$ and a signal-to-noise ratio improvement of $2.10 pm 0.06$, compared to a single-pass weak-value experiment, and also compared to a conventional direct measurement of the tilt. The signal-to-noise ratio improvement could reach around 6 for the parameters of this experiment, assuming lower loss elements.
The existence of Weyl nodes in the momentum space is a hallmark of a Weyl semimetal (WSM). A WSM can be confirmed by observing its Fermi arcs with separated Weyl nodes. In this paper, we study the spin- orbit interaction of light on the surface of WSM in the limit that the thickness is ultra-thin and the incident surface does not support Fermi arc. Our results show that the spin-dependent splitting induced by the spin-orbit interaction is related to the separation of Weyl nodes. By proposing an amplification technique called weak measurements, the distance of the nodes can be precisely determined. This system may have application in characterizing other parameters of WSM.
We study the possibility of varying the measured lifetime of a decaying particle based on the technique of weak value amplification in which an additional filtering process called postselection is performed. Our analysis made in a direct measurement scheme presented here shows that, for simple two-level systems, the lifetime may be prolonged more than three times compared to the original one, while it can also be shortened arbitrarily by a proper choice of postselection. This result is consistent with our previous analysis on the possible prolongation of the lifetime of B mesons that may be observed in laboratories, and suggests room for novel applications of weak value amplification beyond precision measurement conventionally considered.