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Journal of Modern Optics

Phase Resolution and Coherent Phase States

Michael J. W. Hall

Published May 1, 1993• 59 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Various measures of phase resolution (including variance, entropy, confidence half-width, and reciprocal peak likelihood) are reviewed, and applied to the class of coherent phase states. These states arise naturally as eigenstates of the Susskind-Glogower phase operator, and are found to have near-optimal phase resolution properties for fixed mean photon number [nbar]. The mutual information for a communication channel based on coherent phase states is calculated as log ([nbar] + 1), within 1·5 bits of the theoretical maximum for single-mode channels.

DOI
10.1080/09500349314550841

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Dispersion and peak likelihood---two performance measures recently used for the description of quantum phase---are compared in this Rapid Communication. The Susskind-Glogower phase operator represents the extremal quantum estimator with respect to both measures. The states with infinite peak likelihood and zero phase information explicitly demonstrate that peak likelihood is not relevant to the phase measurement, whereas dispersion represents a well-behaved performance measure of the phase variable. Peak likelihood restricts the lower limit of the variance of photon number, and the above-mentioned states represent the extremal states of the Shapiro-Shepard [Phys. Rev. A 43, 3795 (1991)] uncertainty relation.

Physical Review A•Sep 1, 1992•23 citations
Various measures of phase resolution (including variance, entropy, confidence half-width, and reciprocal peak likelihood) are reviewed, and applied to the class of coherent phase states. These states arise naturally as eigenstates of the Susskind-Glogower phase operator, and are found to have near-optimal phase resolution properties for fixed mean photon number [nbar]. The mutual information for a communication channel based on coherent phase states is calculated as log ([nbar] + 1), within 1·5 bits of the theoretical maximum for single-mode channels.
The Susskind-Glogower (SG) phase operator is shown to be the maximum-likelihood (ML) quantum measurement of optical phase for all input states. The ML performance of the SG measurement is optimized, at average photon number N, by an input state with number-ket representation of the form ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\psi}}}_{\mathrm{n}}$=A/(1+n), for 0\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}M<\ensuremath{\infty}. The optimum phase-error behavior, measured by the reciprocal peak-likelihood, is proportional to 1/N2{\mathrm{N}}^{2}N2, as opposed to the 1/ \ensuremath{\surd}N and 1/N dependences of coherent-state and optimum squeezed-state interferometers.
Phase measurements on a single-mode radiation field of annihilation operator a^ are examined from a system-theoretic viewpoint. Quantum estimation theory is used to establish the primacy of the Susskind-Glogower (SG) phase operator, exp^(i\ensuremath{\varphi})==(a^a${\mathrm{^}}^{\mathrm{\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}}}$${)}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1/2}$a^; its phase eigenkets generate the probability operator measure (POM) for maximum-likelihood phase estimation. When used with an optimum input state, the SG-POM produces a local phase accuracy \ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\varphi}\ensuremath{\sim}1/N2{\mathit{N}}^{2}N2, where N is the average photon number of the state. This performance is far superior to the \ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\varphi}\ensuremath{\sim}1/ \ensuremath{\surd}N and \ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\varphi}\ensuremath{\sim}1/N behaviors of coherent-state and optimized squeezed-state interferometers, respectively. A commuting-observables description for the SG-POM on an extended, signal\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}apparatus, state space is derived. It is analogous to the signal-band\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}image-band formulation for optical heterodyne detection. Because heterodyne detection realizes the a^-POM, this analogy may help realize the SG-POM. Two new classes of nonclassical states are identified through study of the SG operator---the coherent phase states and the squeezed phase states. These are direct analogs of the familiar coherent and squeezed states associated with the annihilation operator. Linear system theory is used to elicit a broader class of states---the rational phase states---which includes the coherent and squeezed phase states as special cases, and affords a filter-theory derivation of the minimum average-energy quantum state with prescribed phase-measurement statistics. Fourier theory is also used to prove a number-phase uncertainty relation without recourse to the usual linearization procedures, and to show that the Pegg-Barnett phase operator has the same measurement statistics as the SG-POM for arbitrary quantum states.
Phase measurements on a single-mode radiation field are examined from a system-theoretic viewpoint. Quantum estimation theory is used to establish the primacy of the Susskind-Glogower (SG) phase operator; its phase eigenkets generate the probability operator measure (POM) for maximum likelihood phase estimation. A commuting observables description for the SG-POM on a signal x apparatus state space is derived. It is analogous to the signal-band x image-band formulation for optical heterodyne detection. Because heterodyning realizes the annihilation operator POM, this analogy may help realize the SG-POM. The wave function representation associated with the SG POM is then used to prove the duality between the phase measurement and the number operator measurement, from which a number-phase uncertainty principle is obtained, via Fourier theory, without recourse to linearization. Fourier theory is also employed to establish the principle of number-ket causality, leading to a Paley-Wiener condition that must be satisfied by the phase-measurement probability density function (PDF) for a single-mode field in an arbitrary quantum state. Finally, a two-mode phase measurement is shown to afford phase-conjugate quantum communication at zero error probability with finite average photon number. Application of this construct to interferometric precision measurements is briefly discussed.
Using a single mode analysis, we assess the utility of Shannon information as a robust performance criterion for phase detection. To provide a sharp test, we apply it to the Shapiro, Shepard and Wong optimal phase state. This has well-known pathologies, and is thus a good hurdle. Numerical studies show that the SSW-state information gain converges rapidly to the finite value ⟨Δ I ⟩ ∼ 0.966 bits at infinite photon number. For large photon numbers N the truncated phase state scheme yields ⟨Δ I ⟩ ∼ log 2 (2 N + 1) − 1.220 bits whereas the coherent state scheme returns ⟨Δ I ⟩ ∼ log 2 N 1/2 − 1.604 bits. Numerical studies confirm these asymptotic formulae and reveal an interesting crossover regime where the coherent state scheme proves superior to the truncated phase state scheme at low photon numbers N ⩽ 10. The anomalous behaviour of the SSW-state is studied with the aid of a simple scaling argument.
The Shapiro-Wagner phase measurement is addressed here. It is clarified that this concept includes an infinite number of operator realizations of quantum phase measurements, which may be characterized using polar and spectral decomposition. For accurate phase measurement, the regimes of ideal and optimized phase resolution are specified. The former is equivalent to the Susskind-Glogower or Hermitian phase concepts and needs infinite energy on the auxiliary input port. The ultimate phase resolution cannot surpass the limit 1/n, n being the total average number of photons entering both the signal and image input ports.
Dispersion and peak likelihood---two performance measures recently used for the description of quantum phase---are compared in this Rapid Communication. The Susskind-Glogower phase operator represents the extremal quantum estimator with respect to both measures. The states with infinite peak likelihood and zero phase information explicitly demonstrate that peak likelihood is not relevant to the phase measurement, whereas dispersion represents a well-behaved performance measure of the phase variable. Peak likelihood restricts the lower limit of the variance of photon number, and the above-mentioned states represent the extremal states of the Shapiro-Shepard [Phys. Rev. A 43, 3795 (1991)] uncertainty relation.