Quantum measurement with Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

F. De Martini, G. Denardo, Anton Zeilinger

Quan Liao, Hongmei Ma, L. Q. Chen +2 more

The presence of phase diffusion can lead to the loss of the advantages of quantum measurements. Squeezing is considered to be an effective method to reduce the detrimental effect of phase diffusion on the measurement. The Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer has been exploited as a generic tool for precise phase measurement. Describing the reduction in quantum advantage caused by phase diffusion in an MZ interferometer that can be mitigated by squeezing is not easy to handle analytically, because the input state will change from a pure state to a mixed state after experiencing the diffusion noise in the MZ interferometer. We introduce a truncated MZ interferometer that can achieve the same potential phase sensitivity as the conventional MZ interferometer. This scheme can theoretically explain how phase diffusion reduces phase estimation and why squeezing counteracts in the presence of phase diffusion. Using the Gaussian property of the input state and the characteristic of Gaussian operation in the squeezing, the two orthogonal field quantities of the quantum state are squeezed and anti-squeezed to different degrees, and the analytic results are obtained. The truncated MZ interferometer is simpler to build and operate than the conventional MZ interferometer, and also mitigates the phase diffusion noise by the squeezing operation, thus making it useful for applications in precision metrology.

Rui‐Bo Jin, Zi-Qi Zeng, Chenglong You +1 more

fu Li, F. A. Hashmi, Jun-Xiang Zhang +1 more

An ideal experiment is designed to determine the past of a particle in the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) by using standard quantum mechanics with quantum non-demolition measurements. We find that when the photon reaches the detector, it only follows one arm of the outer interferometer and leaves no trace in the inner MZI. When it goes through the inner MZI, it cannot reach the detector. Our result obtained from the standard quantum mechanics contradicts the statement based on two-state vector formulism, 'the photon did not enter the (inner) interferometer, the photon never left the interferometer, but it was there'. Therefore, the statement and also the overlapping claim are incorrect.

Harry J. Kimble, O. Carnal, Zhongliang Hu +4 more

Xudong Yu, Wei Li, Shi-Yao Zhu +1 more

We study a scheme for Mach–Zehnder (MZ) interferometer as a quantum linear device by injecting two-mode squeezed input states into two ports of interferometer. Two-mode squeezed states can be changed into two types of inputs for MZ interferometer: two squeezed states and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) entangled states. The interference patterns of the MZ interferometer vary periodically as the relative phase of the two arms of the interferometer is scanned, and are measured by the balanced homodyne detection system. Our experiments show that there are different interference patterns and periodicity of the output quantum states for two cases which depend on the relative phase of input optical fields. Since MZ interferometer can be used to realize some quantum operations, this work will have the important applications in quantum information and metrology.