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arXiv:2303.16486 · Physical Review A

Enhancement of quantum sensing in a cavity-optomechanical system around the quantum critical point

Shao-Bo Tang, Hao Qin, Bingbing Liu, D.-Y. Wang, Kaifeng Cui, Shi‐Lei Su, L.-L. Yan, Gang Chen

Published Nov 27, 2023• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The precision of quantum sensing could be improved by exploiting quantum phase transitions, where the physical quantity tends to diverge when the system approaches the quantum critical point. This critical enhancement phenomenon has been applied to the quantum Rabi model, showing a promising sensing enhancement without the need for complex initial state preparation. In this work, we present a quantum phase transition in the coupling cavity-mechanical oscillator system when the coupling strength crosses a critical point, determined by the effective detuning of the cavity and frequency of the mechanical mode. By utilizing this critical phenomenon, we obtain a prominent enhancement of quantum sensing, such as the position and momentum of the mechanical oscillator. This result provides an alternative method to enhance the quantum sensing of some physical quantities, such as mass, charge, and weak force, in a large mass system.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.053514

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•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations
The precision of quantum sensing could be improved by exploiting quantum phase transitions, where the physical quantity tends to diverge when the system approaches the quantum critical point. This critical enhancement phenomenon has been applied to the quantum Rabi model, showing a promising sensing enhancement without the need for complex initial state preparation. In this work, we present a quantum phase transition in the coupling cavity-mechanical oscillator system when the coupling strength crosses a critical point, determined by the effective detuning of the cavity and frequency of the mechanical mode. By utilizing this critical phenomenon, we obtain a prominent enhancement of quantum sensing, such as the position and momentum of the mechanical oscillator. This result provides an alternative method to enhance the quantum sensing of some physical quantities, such as mass, charge, and weak force, in a large mass system.
Quantum sensing, leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, has revolutionized the field of precision measurement by achieving sensitivities beyond the classical limits. Among the various platforms for quantum sensing, cavity optomechanics has emerged as a particularly promising field. It studies the interaction between light and mechanical resonators within high-Q optical cavities, providing unique opportunities for enhancing measurement precision and sensitivity in quantum sensing. With advancements in technology, the range of applications for cavity optomechanics in quantum sensing is expanding rapidly. Particularly, the integration of optoelectronic technologies and miniaturization techniques holds promise for the development of more compact, efficient, and scalable quantum sensors. Quantum sensing with cavity optomechanics has been extensively studied and has progressed enormously over the past decades. This paper provides a systematic review of research on quantum sensing with cavity optomechanics, starting from the fundamental principles of optomechanical coupling, to the achievement of quantum ground-state cooling of mechanical oscillators and the preparation of basic quantum states, and then to the mechanisms of quantum sensing based on cavity optomechanics. Furthermore, we survey recent advancements in quantum sensing utilizing cavity optomechanics, including the enhancement of optomechanical sensing through the use of entanglement, squeezing, and quantum exceptional points. Finally, perspectives and opportunities for future developments of this field are provided.
Quantum sensing improves the accuracy of measurements of relevant parameters by exploiting the unique properties of quantum systems. The divergent susceptibility of physical systems near a critical point for quantum phase transition enables criticality-enhanced quantum sensing. The quantum Rabi model (QRM), composed of a single qubit coupled to a single bosonic field, represents a good candidate for realizing such critical enhancement for its simplicity, but it is experimentally challenging to achieve the ultrastrong qubit-field coupling required to realize the critical phenomena. In this work, we explore an alternative to construct the analog of the QRM for the sensing, exploiting the criticality appearing in the Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model whose bosonic field is parametrically driven, not necessitating the ultrastrong coupling condition, thus to some extent relaxing the requirement for practical implementation.
Quantum criticality, as a fascinating quantum phenomenon, may provide significant advantages for quantum sensing. Here we propose a dynamic framework for quantum sensing with a family of Hamiltonians that undergo quantum phase transitions (QPTs). By giving the formalism of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for quantum sensing based on critical quantum dynamics, we demonstrate its divergent feature when approaching the critical point. We illustrate the basic principle and the details of experimental implementation using quantum Rabi model. The framework is applicable to a variety of examples and does not rely on the stringent requirement for particular state preparation or adiabatic evolution. It is expected to provide a route towards the implementation of criticality-enhanced quantum sensing.
Abstract The optomechanical system has developed a significant breakthrough in quantum science, especially since it can further improve the precision and sensitivity of the measurement in the quantum region. Here, we study a feasible optomechanical proposal in a hybrid quantum system, which can ensure a quantum sensor with further enhanced sensitivity. With the joint assistance of microwave modifying and optical parametric amplification, the effective line width of this supermode is further reduced around the critical point, and it can therefore result in a resolvable spectrum to display a much weaker mechanical frequency shift, which is perhaps induced by a tiny mass or charged particles in this system. We also hope there might be some useful applications for this attempt in the area of quantum measurement.
We show that strongly amplified dynamical responses in cavity optomechanical systems can be harnessed for enhanced quantum sensing. By tuning the optomechanical interaction to a regime of enhanced susceptibility, weak perturbations produce disproportionately large changes in the system response, leading to substantially improved estimation precision. Using Gaussian estimation theory, we demonstrate that the quantum Fisher information exhibits a divergent scaling as the perturbation strength decreases, implying a corresponding suppression of the estimation error. We further show that heterodyne detection of the output cavity field yields the classical Fisher information with the same asymptotic scaling as the quantum Fisher information, demonstrating that the enhanced sensitivity is accessible with a standard measurement protocol. These results identify amplified optomechanical dynamics as a controllable resource for quantum enhanced sensing and metrology.
Why are classical theories often sufficient to describe the physics of our world even though everything around us is entirely composed of microscopic quantum systems? The boundary between these two fundamentally dissimilar theories remains an unsolved problem in modern physics. Position measurements of small objects allow us to probe the area where the classical approximation breaks down. In quantum mechanics, Heisenbergâ s uncertainty principle dictates that any measurement of the position must be accompanied by measurement induced back-action---in this case manifested as an uncertainty in the momentum. In recent years, cavity optomechanics has become a powerful tool to perform precise position measurements and investigate their fundamental limitations. The utilization of optical micro-cavities greatly enhances the interaction between light and state-of-the-art nanomechanical oscillators. Therefore, quantum mechanical phenomena have been successfully observed in systems far beyond the microscopic world. In such a cavity optomechanical system, the fluctuations in the position of the oscillator are transduced onto the phase of the light, while fluctuations in the amplitude of the light disturb the momentum of the oscillator during the measurement. As a consequence, correlations are established between the amplitude and phase quadrature of the probe light. However, so far, observation of quantum effects has been limited exclusively to cryogenic experiments, and access to the quantum regime at room temperature has remained an elusive goal because the overwhelming amount of thermal motion masks the weak quantum effects. This thesis describes the engineering of a high-performance cavity optomechanical device and presents experimental results showing, for the first time, the broadband effects of quantum back-action at room temperature. The device strongly couples mechanical and optical modes of exceptionally high quality factors to provide a measurement sensitivity ∼ ⁣104\sim\!10^4∼104 times below the requirement to resolve the zero-point fluctuations of the mechanical oscillator. The quantum back-action is then observed through the correlations created between the probe light and the motion of the nanomechanical oscillator. A so-called â variational measurementâ , which detects the transmitted light in a homodyne detector tuned close to the amplitude quadrature, resolves the quantum noise due to these correlations at the level of 10\% of the thermal noise over more than an octave of Fourier frequencies around mechanical resonance. Moreover, building on this result, an additional experiment demonstrates the ability to achieve quantum enhanced metrology. In this case, the generated quantum correlations are used to cancel quantum noise in the measurement record, which then leads to an improved relative signal-to-noise ratio in measurements of an external force. In conclusion, the successful observation of broadband quantum behavior on a macroscopic object at room temperature is an important milestone in the field of cavity optomechanics. Specifically, this result heralds the rise of optomechanical systems as a platform for quantum physics at room temperature and shows promise for generation of ponderomotive squeezing in room-temperature interferometers.