We develop a quantum sensing framework for the phase independent detection of weak coherent optical displacements based on SU(1,1) interferometry. Unlike conventional quantum measurement protocols that require prior knowledge of the signal phase and coherent homodyne detection, the proposed approach estimates the displacement magnitude independently of its phase. We show that, under ideal lossless conditions, a conventional SU(1,1) interferometer employing only total intensity detection saturates the quantum Cramer Rao bound for displacement magnitude estimation. We further derive the analytical expression of the quantum Cramer Rao bound and the sensitivity of the conventional SU(1,1) interferometer with total intensity detection and systematically investigate its performance in the presence of optical loss. The proposed phase-independent intensity detection scheme achieves comparable performance over experimentally relevant operating regimes while eliminating the need for local oscillators, phase locking, and quadrature tracking. These results establish SU(1,1) based intensity detection as a practical platform for phase independent quantum sensing.
We develop a quantum sensing framework for the phase independent detection of weak coherent optical displacements based on SU(1,1) interferometry. Unlike conventional quantum measurement protocols that require prior knowledge of the signal phase and coherent homodyne detection, the proposed approach estimates the displacement magnitude independently of its phase. We show that, under ideal lossless conditions, a conventional SU(1,1) interferometer employing only total intensity detection saturates the quantum Cramer Rao bound for displacement magnitude estimation. We further derive the analytical expression of the quantum Cramer Rao bound and the sensitivity of the conventional SU(1,1) interferometer with total intensity detection and systematically investigate its performance in the presence of optical loss. The proposed phase-independent intensity detection scheme achieves comparable performance over experimentally relevant operating regimes while eliminating the need for local oscillators, phase locking, and quadrature tracking. These results establish SU(1,1) based intensity detection as a practical platform for phase independent quantum sensing.
We study the phase sensitivity in the conventional SU(2) and nonconventional SU(1,1) interferometers with a coherent and squeezed vacuum input state via quantum Cramer-Rao bound. We explicitly construct the detection scheme that gives the optimal phase sensitivity. For practical purposes, we show that in the presence of photon loss, both interferometers with proper homodyne detections are nearly optimal. We also find that unlike the coherent state and the squeezed vacuum state, the effects of imperfect detector on the phase sensitivity cannot be asymptotically removed for a generic coherent-squeezed state.
Abstract The SU(1,1) interferometer, a nonlinear analog of the traditional Mach–Zehnder interferometer, has emerged as a powerful tool for achieving phase sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit. In this work, we propose the use of a superposition of even and odd coherent states as input state to enhance the phase sensitivity of an SU(1,1) interferometer. These non-classical states exhibit unique properties such as squeezing, entanglement, and quantum interference, which can be harnessed to improve metrological precision. Phase sensitivity is analyzed using single-intensity detection and homodyne detection schemes under both ideal and photon loss cases, which demonstrates significant improvements over classical and squeezed-vacuum inputs. In addition, we evaluate the quantum Cramér-Rao lower bound by employing the quantum Fisher information formalism, showing that it surpasses the standard quantum limit and approaches the Heisenberg limit under optimal conditions. Our results highlight the potential of the even and odd coherent states superposition in quantum metrology and provide a pathway for achieving ultra-precise phase measurements in SU(1,1) interferometers for applications in optical sensing, and quantum information processing.
Homodyne detection is often used for interferometers based on nonlinear optical gain media. For the configuration of a seeded, "truncated SU(1,1)" interferometer Anderson, et al. [ Phys. Rev. A95, 063843 (2017)] showed how to optimize the homodyne detection scheme and demonstrated theoretically that it can saturate the quantum Cramer-Rao bound for phase estimation. In this work we extend those results by taking into account loss in the truncated SU(1,1) interferometer and determining the optimized homodyne detection scheme for phase measurement. Further, we build a truncated SU(1,1) interferometer and experimentally demonstrate that this optimized scheme achieves a reduction in noise level, corresponding to an enhanced potential phase sensitivity, compared to a typical homodyne detection scheme for a two-mode squeezed state. In doing so, we also demonstrate an improvement in the degree to which we can beat the standard quantum limit with this device.
We present a new operator method in the Heisenberg representation to obtain the signal of parity measurement within a lossless SU(1,1) interferometer. Based on this method, it is convenient to derive the parity signal directly in terms of input states, including general Gaussian and non-Gaussian states. As applications, we revisit the signal of parity measurement within an SU(1,1) interferometer when a coherent or thermal state and a squeezed vacuum state are considered as input states. In addition, we obtain the parity signal of an arbitrary single-mode state when it passes through an SU(1,1) interferometer, which is also a new result. Then, we analytically prove that parity measurement can saturate the quantum Cramér–Rao bound when the estimated phase approaches zero. Therefore, the operator method proposed in this work may bring convenience to the study of quantum metrology, particularly the phase estimation based on an SU(1,1) interferometer.
Abstract We have theoretically investigated the phase sensitivity of the hybrid interferometer with two coherent beams using the method of balance homodyne detection. The measurement device is a nonlinear–linear hybrid interferometer consisting of an optical parametric amplifier and a beam splitter. We prove that the phase sensitivity can beat the shot noise limit in the optimal conditions. Furthermore, we derive the quantum Cramér–Rao bound of the hybrid interferometer. The effects of transmission loss and detection loss on the measurement accuracy are discussed. The detection accuracy of this scheme is compared with that of the conventional SU (1,1) interferometer. Our results show that this scheme outperforms the conventional SU (1,1) interferometer scheme at high parametric strength. This scheme can be implemented with existing experimental techniques and will have important applications in quantum precision measurements.
Utilizing nonlinear elements, SU(1,1) interferometers demonstrate superior phase sensitivity compared to passive interferometers. However, the precision is significantly impacted by photon losses, particularly internal losses. We propose a theoretical scheme to improve the precision of phase measurement using homodyne detection by implementing number-conserving operations (PA-then-PS and PS-then-PA) within the SU(1,1) interferometer, with the coherent state and the vacuum state as the input states. We analyze the effects of number-conserving operations on the phase sensitivity, the quantum Fisher information, and the quantum Cramer-Rao bound under both ideal and photon losses scenarios. Our findings reveal that the internal non-Gaussian operations can enhance the phase sensitivity and the quantum Fisher information, and effectively improve the robustness of the SU(1,1) interferometer against internal photon losses. Notably, the PS-then-PA scheme exhibits superior improvement in both ideal and photon losses cases in terms of phase sensitivity. Moreover, in the ideal case, PA-then-PS scheme slightly outperforms PS-then-PA scheme in terms of the quantum Fisher information and the Quantum Cramer-Rao. However, in the presence of photon losses, PS-then-PA scheme demonstrates a greater advantage.