Abstract The laws of quantum mechanics allow to perform measurements whose precision supersedes results predicted by classical parameter estimation theory. That is, the precision bound imposed by the central limit theorem in the estimation of a broad class of parameters, like atomic frequencies in spectroscopy or external magnetic field in magnetometry, can be overcomewhen using quantum probes. Environmental noise, however, generally alters the ultimate precision that can be achieved in the estimation of an unknown parameter. This tutorial reviews recent theoretical work aimed at obtaining general precision bounds in the presence of an environment.We adopt a complementary approach,wherewe first analyze the problem within the general framework of describing the quantum systems in terms of quantum dynamical maps and then relate this abstract formalism to a microscopic description of the system’s dissipative time evolution.We will show that although some forms of noise do render quantum systems standard quantum limited, precision beyond classical bounds is still possible in the presence of different forms of local environmental fluctuations.
Abstract The laws of quantum mechanics allow to perform measurements whose precision supersedes results predicted by classical parameter estimation theory. That is, the precision bound imposed by the central limit theorem in the estimation of a broad class of parameters, like atomic frequencies in spectroscopy or external magnetic field in magnetometry, can be overcomewhen using quantum probes. Environmental noise, however, generally alters the ultimate precision that can be achieved in the estimation of an unknown parameter. This tutorial reviews recent theoretical work aimed at obtaining general precision bounds in the presence of an environment.We adopt a complementary approach,wherewe first analyze the problem within the general framework of describing the quantum systems in terms of quantum dynamical maps and then relate this abstract formalism to a microscopic description of the system’s dissipative time evolution.We will show that although some forms of noise do render quantum systems standard quantum limited, precision beyond classical bounds is still possible in the presence of different forms of local environmental fluctuations.
Measuring stochastic signals ("noise metrology") constitutes a central task in quantum sensing and the characterization of open quantum systems. Here we establish ultimate precision bounds for multiparameter estimation of stochastic signals encoded through Markovian Lindblad dynamics, allowing for arbitrary quantum control and noiseless ancillae. Although Markovianity enforces standard-quantum-limit scaling with sensing time T, our bounds reveal Heisenberg-type scaling in the number of dissipative channels, R: when the stochastic signal exhibits high-rank correlations across the R channels and the probe is entangled, the average variance (per parameter) scales no better than Ω(1/(TR2)). For collective k-body dissipation, R=Θ(Nk), signifying super-Heisenberg scaling with the system size N. We further show that, when the unknown parameters enter through the dissipative eigenrates, a Rapid Prepare-and-Measure (RPM) protocol that tracks many distinct quantum jumps in parallel attains these limits. In this regime, the estimation problem reduces to a multi-Poisson counting model, providing a conceptually clean route to optimal quantum noise metrology. We illustrate the breadth of the framework with applications to networked noise metrology, collective many-body dissipation, learning Pauli noise, and subdiffraction quantum imaging.
In an idealistic setting, quantum metrology protocols allow to sense physical parameters with mean squared error that scales as 1/N2 with the number of particles involved---substantially surpassing the 1/N-scaling characteristic to classical statistics. A natural question arises, whether such an impressive enhancement persists when one takes into account the decoherence effects that are unavoidable in any real-life implementation. In this thesis, we resolve a major part of this issue by describing general techniques that allow to quantify the attainable precision in metrological schemes in the presence of uncorrelated noise. We show that the abstract geometrical structure of a quantum channel describing the noisy evolution of a single particle dictates then critical bounds on the ultimate quantum enhancement. Our results prove that an infinitesimal amount of noise is enough to restrict the precision to scale classically in the asymptotic N limit, and thus constrain the maximal improvement to a constant factor. Although for low numbers of particles the decoherence may be ignored, for large N the presence of noise heavily alters the form of both optimal states and measurements attaining the ultimate resolution. However, the established bounds are then typically achievable with use of techniques natural to current experiments. In this work, we thoroughly introduce the necessary concepts and mathematical tools lying behind metrological tasks, including both frequentist and Bayesian estimation theory frameworks. We provide examples of applications of the methods presented to typical qubit noise models, yet we also discuss in detail the phase estimation tasks in Mach-Zehnder interferometry both in the classical and quantum setting---with particular emphasis given to photonic losses while analysing the impact of decoherence.
Estimation of parameters is a pivotal task throughout science and technology. The quantum Cramér-Rao bound provides a fundamental limit of precision allowed to be achieved under quantum theory. For closed quantum systems, it has been shown how the estimation precision depends on the underlying dynamics. Here, we propose a general formulation for metrology scenarios in open quantum systems, aiming to relate the precision more directly to properties of the underlying dynamics. This feature may be employed to enhance an estimation precision, e.g., by quantum control techniques. Specifically, we derive a Cramér-Rao bound for a fairly large class of open system dynamics, which is governed by a (time-dependent) dynamical semigroup map. We illustrate the utility of this scenario through three examples.
The major problem of multiparameter quantum estimation theory is to find an ultimate measurement scheme to go beyond the standard quantum limits that each quasi-classical estimation measurement is limited by. Although, in some specifics quantum protocols without environmental noise, the ultimate sensitivity of a multiparameter quantum estimation can beat the standard quantum limit. However, the presence of noise imposes limitations on the enhancement of precision due to the inevitable existence of environmental fluctuations. Here, we address the motivation behind the usage of Gaussian quantum resources and their advantages in reaching the standard quantum limits under realistic noise. In this context, our work aims to explore the ultimate limits of precision for the simultaneous estimation of a pair of parameters that characterize the displacement channel acting on Gaussian probes and subjected to open dynamics. More precisely, we focus on a general two-mode mixed squeezed displaced thermal state, after reducing it to various Gaussian probes states, like; a two-mode pure squeezed vacuum, two-mode pure displaced vacuum, two-mode mixed displaced thermal, two-mode mixed squeezed thermal. To study the ultimate estimation precision, we evaluate the upper and bottom bound of HCRB in various cases. We find that when the entangled states, two-mode pure squeezed vacuum and two-mode mixed squeezed thermal, are employed as probes states, the upper and bottom bound of HCRB beats the standard quantum limit in the presence of a noisy environment.
The intuition that the precision of observables is constrained by thermodynamic costs has recently been formalized through thermodynamic and kinetic uncertainty relations. While such trade-offs have been extensively studied in Markovian systems, corresponding constraints in the non-Markovian regime remain largely unexplored. In this Letter, we derive universal bounds on the precision of generic observables in open quantum systems that interact with their environments at arbitrary coupling strengths and are subjected to two-point measurements. By introducing an asymmetry term that quantifies the disparity between forward and backward processes, we show that the relative fluctuation of any time-antisymmetric current is constrained not only by entropy production but also by this asymmetry. For general observables, we further prove that their relative fluctuation is always bounded from below by a generalized activity term that characterizes environmental changes. These results establish a comprehensive framework for understanding the fundamental limits of precision in a broad class of open quantum systems, beyond the traditional Markovian setting.
Quantum-enhanced measurements exploit quantum mechanical effects to provide ultra-precise estimates of physical variables for use in advanced technologies, such as frequency calibration of atomic clocks, gravitational waves detection, and biosensing. Quantum metrology studies the fundamental limits in the estimation precision given a certain amount of resources (e.g. the number of probe systems) and restrictions (e.g. limited interaction time, or coping with unavoidable presence of noise). Here we show that, even in the presence of noise, probabilistic measurement strategies (which have a certain probability of failure or abstention) can provide, upon a heralded successful outcome, estimates with a precision that violates the deterministic bounds. This establishes a new ultimate quantum metrology limit. For probe systems subject to local dephasing, we quantify such precision limit as a function of the probability of failure that can be tolerated. We show that the possibility of abstaining can substantially set back the detrimental effects of noise.