Permitting a more precise measurement to physical quantities than the classical limit by using quantum resources, quantum metrology holds a promise in developing many revolutionary technologies. However, the noise-induced decoherence forces its superiority to disappear, which is called no-go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and constrains its application. We propose a scheme to overcome the no-go theorem by Floquet engineering. It is found that, by applying a periodic driving on the atoms of the Ramsey spectroscopy, the ultimate sensitivity to measure their frequency characterized by quantum Fisher information returns to the ideal t^{2} scaling with the encoding time whenever a Floquet bound state is formed by the system consisting of each driven atom and its local noise. Combining with the optimal control, this mechanism also allows us to retrieve the ideal Heisenberg-limit scaling with the atom number N. Our result gives an efficient way to avoid the no-go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and to realize high-precision measurements.
Permitting a more precise measurement to physical quantities than the classical limit by using quantum resources, quantum metrology holds a promise in developing many revolutionary technologies. However, the noise-induced decoherence forces its superiority to disappear, which is called no-go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and constrains its application. We propose a scheme to overcome the no-go theorem by Floquet engineering. It is found that, by applying a periodic driving on the atoms of the Ramsey spectroscopy, the ultimate sensitivity to measure their frequency characterized by quantum Fisher information returns to the ideal t^{2} scaling with the encoding time whenever a Floquet bound state is formed by the system consisting of each driven atom and its local noise. Combining with the optimal control, this mechanism also allows us to retrieve the ideal Heisenberg-limit scaling with the atom number N. Our result gives an efficient way to avoid the no-go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and to realize high-precision measurements.
Abstract Quantum metrology pursues the physical realization of higher‐precision measurements to physical quantities than the classically achievable limit by exploiting quantum features, such as entanglement and squeezing, as resources. It has potential applications in developing next‐generation frequency standards, magnetometers, radar, and navigation. However, the ubiquitous decoherence in the quantum world degrades the quantum resources and forces the precision back to or even worse than the classical limit, which is called the no‐go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and greatly hinders its applications. Therefore, how to realize the promised performance of quantum metrology in realistic noisy situations attracts much attention in recent years. The principle, categories, and applications of quantum metrology are reviewed. Special attention is paid to different quantum resources that can bring quantum superiority in enhancing sensitivity. Then, the no‐go theorem of noisy quantum metrology and its active control under different kinds of noise‐induced decoherence situations are introduced.
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.
One core of quantum metrology is the utilization of entanglement to enhance measurement precision beyond the standard quantum limit. Here, we utilize the Floquet-engineered two-axis twisting (TAT) and turn dynamics to generate GHZ-like states for quantum metrology. Using both analytical semi-classical and quantum approaches, we find that the desired N-particle GHZ-like state can be produced in a remarkably short time topt∝lnN/N, and its quantum Fisher information FQopt∝N2 approaches the Heisenberg limit. Owing to the rapid state preparation, it shows outstanding robustness against decoherence. Moreover, using the Floquet-engineered anti-TAT-and-turn, one may implement an efficient interaction-based readout protocol to extract the signal encoded in this GHZ-like state. This Floquet-engineered anti-TAT-and-turn approach offers a viable method to achieve effective time-reversal dynamics to improve measurement precision and resilience against detection noise, all without the need to invert the sign of the nonlinear interaction. This study paves a way for achieving entanglement-enhanced quantum metrology via rapid generation of GHZ-like states at high particle numbers through continuous Floquet engineering.
The diamond sensor has emerged as a promising platform for quantum sensing, enabling the estimation of physical quantities -- such as microwave~(MW) field -- with precision unattainable by classical counterpart. However, traditional diamond sensors suffer severe precision degradation when the signal MW is not resonant with the sensor transition frequency. Here, we propose and demonstrate a Floquet diamond sensor~(FDS) for high-precision off-resonant MW amplitude sensing without attenuating the strength of the signal MW. The periodic driven field effectively induces an quasi-energy shift that matches the off-resonant MW frequency. The measurement precision of FDS is characterized by quantum Fisher information, which approaches the ultimate precision -- Heisenberg limit -- within the coherent time. Furthermore, the FDS exhibits robust tolerance to practical control errors and is compatible with dynamical coupling protocol, enabling a robust and high-sensitivity magnetic sensing. Our results confirm the quantum advantage of quantum sensing and provide a practical technology for high-precision off-resonant MW sensing.
We develop a variational principle to determine the quantum controls and initial state that optimizes the quantum Fisher information, the quantity characterizing the precision in quantum metrology. When the set of available controls is limited, the exact optimal initial state and the optimal controls are, in general, dependent on the probe time, a feature missing in the unrestricted case. Yet, for time-independent Hamiltonians with restricted controls, the problem can be approximately reduced to the unconstrained case via Floquet engineering. In particular, we find for magnetometry with a time-independent spin chain containing three-body interactions, even when the controls are restricted to one- and two-body interaction, that the Heisenberg scaling can still be approximately achieved. Our results open the door to investigate quantum metrology under a limited set of available controls, of relevance to many-body quantum metrology in realistic scenarios.
The impact of measurement imperfections on quantum metrology protocols has not been approached in a systematic manner so far. In this work, we tackle this issue by generalising firstly the notion of quantum Fisher information to account for noisy detection, and propose tractable methods allowing for its approximate evaluation. We then show that in canonical scenarios involving N probes with local measurements undergoing readout noise, the optimal sensitivity depends crucially on the control operations allowed to counterbalance the measurement imperfections-with global control operations, the ideal sensitivity (e.g., the Heisenberg scaling) can always be recovered in the asymptotic N limit, while with local control operations the quantum-enhancement of sensitivity is constrained to a constant factor. We illustrate our findings with an example of NV-centre magnetometry, as well as schemes involving spin-1/2 probes with bit-flip errors affecting their two-outcome measurements, for which we find the input states and control unitary operations sufficient to attain the ultimate asymptotic precision.