We show that the parity measurement can be used as a universal detection scheme for the sub-shot-noise limit interferometry. The efforts to produce the desired input states can then be much reduced accordingly.
We investigate the utility of parity detection to achieve Heisenberg-limited phase estimation for optical interferometry. We consider the parity detection with several input states that have been shown to exhibit sub-shot-noise interferometry with their respective detection schemes. We show that with parity detection, all these states achieve the sub-shot-noise limited phase uncertainty. Thus making the parity detection a unified detection strategy for quantum optical metrology. We also consider quantum states that are a combination of a NOON state and a dual-Fock state, which gives a great deal of freedom in the preparation of the input state, and is found to surpass the shot-noise limit.
Phase measurement using a lossless Mach–Zehnder interferometer with certain entangled N-photon states can lead to a phase sensitivity of the order of 1/N, the Heisenberg limit. However, previously considered output measurement schemes are different for different input states to achieve this limit. We show that it is possible to achieve this limit just by the parity measurement for all the commonly proposed entangled states. Based on the parity measurement scheme, the reductions of the phase sensitivity in the presence of photon loss are examined for the various input states.
Optimizing the sensitivity for interferometric measurement of optical phase involves maximizing the intensity of the illuminating light source and minimizing any noise sources. Limits to the light source intensity may arise from the availability of a stable high-power laser or from damage to the system being measured. For example, we describe here a scanning confocal polarization microscope designed to image the dynamics of nerve networks. In this case the light intensity limit is set by several factors, including the scanning rate, the required response time and damage limits of the biological system. Assuming a stable experimental configuration for the interferometer and light source, the limiting noise source for visible light interferometry is shot-noise associated with the quantum state of the light inputs to the interferometer. Shot-noise can be thought of as arising from vacuum fluctuations entering the dark input port of the interferometer.(1) These vacuum field fluctuations combine with the light entering the other port to cause shot-noise in the detected photocurrent at the output ports of the interferometer. This shot-noise current normally limits the measured phase variance Δϕ to a value of 1/N where N is the average number of photons detected in a measurement interval. We describe an experiment which demonstrates that this shot-noise limit can be improved by injecting squeezed vacuum into the normally dark input port.(2) In this case the phase variance is reduced below the 1/N limit by the degree of squeezing. In contrast to early experiments,(2) we are now operating the interferometer in a dark fringe mode(3–5) in order to avoid setting a limit to the light level caused by detector saturation (near 1 mW).