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arXiv:2002.03378 · Physical Review A

Non-Markovian effect on quantum optical metrology under a dissipative environment

Kai Bai, Hong‐Gang Luo, Wenxian Zhang, Meng Xiao

Published Feb 26, 2020• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum metrology utilizes quantum effects to reach higher-precision measurements of physical quantities compared with their classical counterparts. However, the ubiquitous decoherence obstructs its application. Recently, non-Markovian effects are shown to be effective in performing quantum optical metrology under locally dissipative environments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 040402 (2019)]. However, the mechanism is still rather hazy. Here, we uncover the reason why forming a bound state can protect the quantumness against a dissipative ambient via the quantum Fisher information of entangled coherent states. An exact analytical expression of the quantum Fisher information in the long-encoding-time condition is derived, which reveals that the dynamics of precision can asymptotically reach the ideal-case-promised one easily when the average photon number is small. Meanwhile, the scaling exhibits a transition from the weak Heisenberg limit to the subclassical limit with increasing average photon number. Our work provides a recipe to realize ultrasensitive measurements in the presence of noise by utilizing non-Markovian effects.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.101.022115

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Quantum metrology utilizes quantum effects to reach higher-precision measurements of physical quantities compared with their classical counterparts. However, the ubiquitous decoherence obstructs its application. Recently, non-Markovian effects are shown to be effective in performing quantum optical metrology under locally dissipative environments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 040402 (2019)]. However, the mechanism is still rather hazy. Here, we uncover the reason why forming a bound state can protect the quantumness against a dissipative ambient via the quantum Fisher information of entangled coherent states. An exact analytical expression of the quantum Fisher information in the long-encoding-time condition is derived, which reveals that the dynamics of precision can asymptotically reach the ideal-case-promised one easily when the average photon number is small. Meanwhile, the scaling exhibits a transition from the weak Heisenberg limit to the subclassical limit with increasing average photon number. Our work provides a recipe to realize ultrasensitive measurements in the presence of noise by utilizing non-Markovian effects.
Quantum metrology employs quantum effects to attain a measurement precision surpassing the limit achievable in classical physics. However, it was previously found that the precision returns the shot-noise limit (SNL) from the ideal Zeno limit (ZL) due to the photon loss in quantum metrology based on Mech-Zehnder interferometry. Here, we find that not only can the SNL be beaten, but also the ZL can be asymptotically recovered in a long-encoding-time condition when the photon dissipation is exactly studied in its inherent non-Markovian manner. Our analysis reveals that it is due to the formation of a bound state of the photonic system and its dissipative noise. Highlighting the microscopic mechanism of the dissipative noise on the quantum optical metrology, our result supplies a guideline to realize the ultrasensitive measurement in practice by forming the bound state in the setting of reservoir engineering.
Accurate parameter estimation is a central task in quantum metrology and sensing, where quantum resources can provide precision beyond classical limits. In realistic settings, however, system-environment interactions lead to decoherence, reducing these strategies to their classical counterparts. Noise is typically classified as Markovian or non-Markovian, with the latter often preserving quantum coherence longer and thus supporting better metrological performance. Still, the absence of noise is generally considered ideal. In this work, we uncover a striking reversal: certain non-Markovian environments not only outperform Markovian ones - including their quantum Cramér-Rao bounds - but can also surpass the entirely noiseless case. We demonstrate these findings numerically for an all-optical setup, which is experimentally feasible and can be extended to other physical platforms. In general, our results open new avenues for noise-assisted quantum metrology beyond conventional limits.
Quantum metrology allows us to attain a measurement precision that surpasses the classically achievable limit by using quantum characters. The metrology precision is raised from the standard quantum limit (SQL) to the Heisenberg limit (HL) by using entanglement. However, it has been reported that the HL returns to the SQL in the presence of local dephasing environments under the long encoding-time condition. We evaluate here the exact impacts of local dissipative environments on quantum metrology, based on the Ramsey interferometer. It is found that the HL is asymptotically recovered under the long encoding-time condition for a finite number of the probe atoms. Our analysis reveals that this is essentially due to the formation of a bound state between each atom and its environment. This provides an avenue for experimentation to implement quantum metrology under practical conditions via the engineering of the formation of the system–environment bound state.
Quantum metrology pursues high-precision measurements of physical quantities by using quantum resources. However, the decoherence generally hinders its performance. Previous work found that the metrological error tends to diverge in the long-encoding-time regime due to the Born-Markovian approximate decoherence, which is called the no-go theorem of noisy quantum metrology. Here we propose a Gaussian quantum metrology scheme using bimodal quantized optical fields as the quantum probe. It achieves the precision of a sub-Heisenberg limit in the ideal case. However, the Markovian decoherence causes the metrological error contributed by the center-of-mass mode of the probe to be divergent. A mechanism to remove this ostensible no-go theorem is found in the non-Markovian dynamics. Our result gives an efficient way to realize high-precision quantum metrology in practical continuous-variable systems.
Quantum effects in metrology can in principle enhance measurement precision from the so-called standard quantum limit to the Heisenberg limit. Further advancements in quantum metrology largely rely on innovative metrology protocols that can avoid a number of known obstacles, including the challenge of preparing entangled states with sufficient fidelity, the readout noise in measuring highly entangled states, and no-go theorems for quantum metrology under noisy environments. In this Letter, exploiting some peculiar but experimentally feasible dynamical features of a collection of spins with all-to-all time-periodic interactions, we propose a metrology protocol that can circumvent all three mentioned obstacles and yet still make good use of time as a resource for metrology. Specifically, by mapping the dynamics of such a periodically driven spin system to that of a paradigm of quantum chaos but tuned to some high-order quantum resonance, it is shown that a simple SU(2) coherent state can, after evolving to highly entangled states in the ensuing dynamics, be dynamically brought back to the same initial coherent state. The associated quantum Fisher information is found to exhibit quadratic scaling with both the number of spins and the duration of the metrology protocol. The achieved Heisenberg scaling can also largely survive in the presence of Markovian noise. Representing a previously unknown strategy for quantum metrology, the protocol proposed here can be tested on available experimental platforms.
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 TTT, our bounds reveal Heisenberg-type scaling in the number of dissipative channels, RRR: when the stochastic signal exhibits high-rank correlations across the RRR channels and the probe is entangled, the average variance (per parameter) scales no better than Ω(1/(TR2))Ω(1/(TR^2))Ω(1/(TR2)). For collective kkk-body dissipation, R=Θ(Nk)R=Θ(N^k)R=Θ(Nk), signifying super-Heisenberg scaling with the system size NNN. 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.