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arXiv:1306.6321 · Physical Review X

When Amplification with Weak Values Fails to Suppress Technical Noise

George C. Knee, Erik M. Gauger

Published Mar 6, 2014• 163 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

``Weak-value amplification,'' a quantum-mechanical phenomenon discovered only two decades ago, has received considerable interest for its potential as a metrological tool. However, its operation requires special circumstances, therefore carries costs. A new analysis shows that the associated costs outweigh the advantages when compared to other methods of signal amplification.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.4.011032

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``Weak-value amplification,'' a quantum-mechanical phenomenon discovered only two decades ago, has received considerable interest for its potential as a metrological tool. However, its operation requires special circumstances, therefore carries costs. A new analysis shows that the associated costs outweigh the advantages when compared to other methods of signal amplification.
Abstract Weak values arise in quantum theory when the result of a weak measurement is conditioned on a subsequent strong measurement. The majority of the trials are discarded, leaving only very few successful events. Intriguingly those can display a substantial signal amplification. This raises the question of whether weak values carry potential to improve the performance of quantum sensors, and indeed a number of impressive experimental results suggested this may be the case. By contrast, recent theoretical studies have found the opposite: using weak-values to obtain an amplification generally worsens metrological performance. This survey summarises the implications of those studies, which call for a reappraisal of weak values’ utility and for further work to reconcile theory and experiment.
We consider different types of technical noise in an optical context and show that weak-value amplification techniques (using a small fraction of photons) compare favourably with standard techniques (using all of them). We measure small beam deflections of an optical beam by monitoring the dark port in a Sagnac interferometer (weak-value technique) or by focusing the entire beam onto a split detector (standard technique). In all cases, the weak-value technique performs favourable in precision respect to the standard technique.