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arXiv:1702.02697 · Physical Review A

Quantum-limited measurement of space-time curvature with scaling beyond the conventional Heisenberg limit

Sebastian P. Kish, Timothy C. Ralph

Published Oct 2, 2017• 17 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the problem of estimating the phase shift due to the general relativistic time dilation in the interference of photons using a nonlinear Mach-Zender interferometer setup. By introducing two nonlinear Kerr materials, one in the bottom and one in the top arm, we can measure the nonlinear phase ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\text{NL}}$ produced by the space-time curvature and achieve a scaling of the standard deviation with photon number ($N$) of $1/{N}^{\ensuremath{\beta}}$ where $\ensuremath{\beta}>1$, which exceeds the conventional Heisenberg limit of a linear interferometer ($1/N$). The nonlinear phase shift is an effect that is amplified by the intensity of the probe field. In a regime of high photon number, this effect can dominate over the linear phase shift.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.96.041801

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We study the problem of estimating the phase shift due to the general relativistic time dilation in the interference of photons using a nonlinear Mach-Zender interferometer setup. By introducing two nonlinear Kerr materials, one in the bottom and one in the top arm, we can measure the nonlinear phase \ensuremathϕNL{\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\text{NL}}\ensuremathϕNL​ produced by the space-time curvature and achieve a scaling of the standard deviation with photon number (NNN) of 1/N\ensuremathβ1/{N}^{\ensuremath{\beta}}1/N\ensuremathβ where \ensuremathβ>1\ensuremath{\beta}>1\ensuremathβ>1, which exceeds the conventional Heisenberg limit of a linear interferometer (1/N1/N1/N). The nonlinear phase shift is an effect that is amplified by the intensity of the probe field. In a regime of high photon number, this effect can dominate over the linear phase shift.
We propose a high-precision phase estimation scheme in a hybrid interferometer by synergistically combining a Kerr nonlinear phase shifter and multi-photon subtraction operations. Using a coherent state and a vacuum state as input resources, we systematically evaluate the phase sensitivity via homodyne detection and analyze the quantum Fisher information as well as the quantum Cramér-Rao bound under both ideal and lossy conditions. Our results show that the joint integration of Kerr nonlinearity and multi-photon subtraction yields remarkable advantages over either technique used alone. The proposed scheme enables the phase sensitivity to surpass the standard quantum limit, exceed the conventional Heisenberg scaling (1/N1/N1/N), and approach the super-Heisenberg scaling (1/N21/N^{2}1/N2)-a direct consequence of Kerr nonlinearity. More precisely, the super-Heisenberg scaling $\propto $ 1/N21/N^{2}1/N2 is the ultimate precision limit permitted by the k=2k=2k=2 Kerr nonlinearity and does not violate the fundamental Heisenberg limit for linear phase accumulation. Even under moderate internal photon loss, the system maintains high precision and exhibits enhanced robustness to decoherence. The Kerr nonlinearity introduces an intensity-dependent phase shift proportional to the squared photon number, while multi-photon subtraction tailors non-Gaussian states to strengthen phase information extraction. Compared with existing schemes based on hybrid interferometers or SU(1,1) interferometers, our architecture achieves superior precision and stronger loss resilience. All components are experimentally accessible with current quantum optical technologies. This work provides a promising route for practical high-precision quantum metrology and quantum sensing.
Quantum metrology employs quantum resources to achieve measurement precision beyond classical limits. This work investigates a Mach--Zehnder interferometer incorporating a Kerr nonlinear phase shifter, with photon-added two-mode squeezed coherent states generated via four-wave mixing as input. We demonstrate that increasing both the photon-addition order and the input resource strength systematically enhances phase sensitivity, quantum Fisher information, and the corresponding quantum Cramér--Rao bound. The proposed system not only surpasses the standard quantum limit but also approaches or exceeds the Heisenberg limit for linear phase shifts, while Kerr nonlinearity enables surpassing the super-Heisenberg limit. Furthermore, the scheme exhibits enhanced robustness against photon loss, providing a promising pathway toward practical high-precision quantum metrology applications.
Quantum metrology allows the enhanced precision on estimating phase shifts in an optical interferometer to reach the $\ensuremath{\propto}1/N$ scaling of precision (NNN is the mean photon number of the light field). But when NNN is very large, the nonlinear optical effects may be nonnegligible. Here we investigate theoretically the quantum uncertainty bounds for simultaneously detecting the linear and nonlinear phase shifts. Focusing our attentions only on the linear and the nonlinear Kerr phase shifts, we find the NOON states can not be used to measure the two phase parameters. Using the entangled coherent states, the estimation precision is limited by the 1/N1/21/{N}^{1/2}1/N1/2 (1/N3/21/{N}^{3/2}1/N3/2) scaling for the linear (nonlinear) phase. To increase the precisions and beat the standard quantum limit, we show that the entangled Schr\"odinger-cat states can be used to reach the 1/N1/N1/N scaling for the linear phase and 1/N21/{N}^{2}1/N2 scaling for the nonlinear phase.
Quantum mechanics and general relativity have been extensively and independently confirmed in many experiments. However, the interplay of the two theories has never been tested: all experiments that measured the influence of gravity on quantum systems are consistent with non-relativistic, Newtonian gravity. On the other hand, all tests of general relativity can be described within the framework of classical physics. Here we discuss a quantum interference experiment with single photons that can probe quantum mechanics in curved space-time. We consider a single photon traveling in superposition along two paths in an interferometer, with each arm experiencing a different gravitational time dilation. If the difference in the time dilations is comparable with the photon's coherence time, the visibility of the quantum interference is predicted to drop, while for shorter time dilations the effect of gravity will result only in a relative phase shift between the two arms. We discuss what aspects of the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity are probed in such experiments and analyze the experimental feasibility.
Abstract The precision of quantum measurements can be effectively improved by using both photon-added non-Gaussian operations and Kerr nonlinear phase shift. Here, we employ a coherent state mixed with a photon-added squeezed vacuum state as the input to a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with parity detection, thereby achieving a significant enhancement in phase measurement precision. Our research focuses on the phase sensitivity of linear phase shift under both ideal conditions and photon loss, as well as quantum Fisher information (QFI). The results demonstrate that employing the photon addition operations can markedly enhance phase sensitivity and QFI, and under optimal conditions, the measurement precision can approach the Heisenberg limit for the linear phase shift case. In addition, we delve deeper into the scenario of replacing the linear phase shift with a Kerr nonlinear one and systematically analyze the QFI under both ideal and photon loss conditions. By comparison, it is evident that employing both the photon addition operations and the Kerr nonlinear phase shift can further significantly enhance phase measurement precision while effectively improving the system’s robustness against photon loss. These findings are instrumental in facilitating the development and practical application of quantum metrology.
We address the problem of distributed quantum metrology with a single squeezed-vacuum source by using the formalism of quantum mechanics in phase space. In particular, we demonstrate Heisenberg-limited sensitivity in the measurement of the average of two arbitrary phase shifts in the arms of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. We obtain exact results for the measurement probability at the interferometer output for any value of the phases, which give us insight into the emergence of Heisenberg-limited sensitivity for periodical values of the phases.