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arXiv:2502.03780 · New Journal of Physics

Enhanced quantum sensing with hybrid exceptional-diabolic singularities

Javid Naikoo, Ravindra W. Chhajlany, Adam Miranowicz

Published May 22, 2025• 6 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We report an enhanced sensitivity for detecting linear perturbations near hybrid (doubly degenerated) exceptional-diabolic (HED) singular points in a four mode bosonic system. The sensitivity enhancement is attributed to a singular response function, with the pole order determining the scaling of estimation error. At HED singular points, the error scaling exhibits a twofold improvement over non-HED singular points. The ultimate bound on estimation error is derived via quantum Fisher information, with heterodyne detection identified as the measurement achieving this optimal scaling.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/addc12

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Abstract We report an enhanced sensitivity for detecting linear perturbations near hybrid (doubly degenerated) exceptional-diabolic (HED) singular points in a four mode bosonic system. The sensitivity enhancement is attributed to a singular response function, with the pole order determining the scaling of estimation error. At HED singular points, the error scaling exhibits a twofold improvement over non-HED singular points. The ultimate bound on estimation error is derived via quantum Fisher information, with heterodyne detection identified as the measurement achieving this optimal scaling.
Describing the evolution of quantum systems by means of non-Hermitian generators opens a new avenue to explore the dynamical properties naturally emerging in such a picture, e.g. operation at the so-called exceptional points, preservation of parity-time symmetry, or capitalizing on the singular behavior of the dynamics. In this Letter, we focus on the possibility of achieving unbounded sensitivity when using the system to sense linear perturbations away from a singular point. By combining multiparameter estimation theory of Gaussian quantum systems with the one of singular-matrix perturbations, we introduce the necessary tools to study the ultimate limits on the precision attained by such singularity-tuned sensors. We identify under what conditions and at what rate can the resulting sensitivity indeed diverge, in order to show that nuisance parameters should be generally included in the analysis, as their presence may alter the scaling of the error with the estimated parameter.
Exceptional points (EPs) exhibit strongly enhanced spectral responses and are therefore promising candidates for sensing applications. Whether these non-Hermitian degeneracies provide a genuine advantage in the quantum regime has been the subject of ongoing debate. Here, we address this issue within a scattering-matrix formalism for sensing with coherent light, which allows the quantum Fisher information (QFI) to be evaluated directly from experimentally accessible scattering data without introducing additional noise channels beyond those inherent to the scattering process. We analyze both nondegenerate and degenerate scattering-matrix poles, including EPs of arbitrary order, and show that the QFI per incoming photon flux is governed by three key factors: the decay rate of the resonant mode, the strength of the spectral response associated with non-normality, and the adjustment between the scattering states and the information source. For spatially localized perturbations, this implies that the Fisher information is fully determined by the local density of states at the perturbation site. Within this framework, we demonstrate that EPs can enhance the QFI compared to isolated modes or diabolic points with identical decay rates, and that the QFI can be further increased by moving away from the EP toward parameter regimes where non-Hermitian linewidth splitting reduces the decay rate of one mode. We further show that sufficiently small additional internal losses do not alter this overall picture, thereby providing a unified and experimentally relevant perspective on the design of quantum-limited non-Hermitian sensors.
Open quantum systems can have exceptional points (EPs), degeneracies where both eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce. Recently, it has been proposed and demonstrated that EPs can enhance the performance of sensors in terms of amplification of a detected signal. However, typically amplification of signals also increases the system noise, and it has not yet been shown that an EP sensor can have improved signal-to-noise performance. We develop a quantum noise theory to calculate the signal-to-noise performance of an EP sensor. We use the quantum Fisher information to extract a lower bound for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and show that parametrically improved SNR is possible. Finally, we construct a specific experimental protocol for sensing using an EP amplifier near its lasing threshold and heterodyne signal detection that achieves the optimal scaling predicted by the Fisher bound. Our results can be generalized to higher order EPs for any bosonic non-Hermitian system with linear interactions.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in utilizing the divergence of spectrum response rate at the exceptional point (EP) for sensing in classical systems, while the use and characterization of quantum EPs for sensing have been largely unexplored. For a quantum EP sensor, an important issue is the relation between the order of the quantum EP and the scaling of quantum Fisher information (QFI), an essential quantity for characterizing quantum sensors. Here we investigate multi-mode quadratic bosonic systems, which exhibit higher-order EP dynamics, but possess Hermitian Hamiltonians without Langevin noise, thus can be utilized for quantum sensing. We derive an exact analytic formula for the QFI, from which we establish a scaling relation between the QFI and the order of the EP. We apply the formula to study a three-mode EP sensor and a multi-mode bosonic Kitaev chain and show that the EP physics can significantly enhance the sensing sensitivity. Our work establishes the connection between two important fields: non-Hermitian EP dynamics and quantum sensing, and may find important applications in quantum information and quantum non-Hermitian physics.
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.
The existence and degeneracies of quantum exceptional, diabolical, and hybrid (i.e., diabolically degenerated exceptional) singularities of simple bosonic systems composed of up to five modes with damping and/or amplification are analyzed. Their dynamics governed by quadratic non-Hermitian Hamiltonians is followed using the Heisenberg-Langevin equations. Their dynamical matrices generally exhibit specific structures that allow for an effective reduction of their dimension by half. This facilitates analytical treatment and enables efficient spectral analysis based on characteristic second-order diabolical degeneracies. Conditions for the observation of inherited quantum hybrid points, observed directly in the dynamics of field operators, having up to third-order exceptional and second-order diabolical degeneracies are revealed. Surprisingly, exceptional degeneracies of only second and third orders are revealed, even though the systems with up to five modes are considered. Exceptional and diabolical genuine points and their degeneracies observed in the dynamics of second-order field-operator moments are also analyzed. Each analyzed bosonic system exhibits its own unique and complex dynamical behavior.