We establish an approach to measure the nonclassicality of a two-mode quantum state by extending the method of quantifying nonclassicality for a single-mode quantum state. We then discuss the nonclassicality and entanglement properties of several different quantum states, and determine the optimal phase estimation for entangled coherent states (ecs) in the form of nonclassicality and concurrence. Accordingly, a new interferometer (linear and nonlinear) scheme is proposed by modifying a traditional interferometer. Specially, we specify a new normal ordering form of the evolution operator of nonlinear interferometer (NI) using the techniques of integration within an ordered product of operators (IWOP), and obtain the parity signal based on representation of the coherent state. By inputting several common quantum states, we further study the phase sensitivity of the linear interferometer (LI) and NI with parity detection, and perform a detailed comparison among the different input states schemes. Furthermore, we quantitatively investigated the effect of nonclassicality and entanglement on the phase sensitivity of two interferometers. These results show that nonclassicality or entanglement is very crucial but not a necessary condition for improving the phase sensitivity of interferometers.
We establish an approach to measure the nonclassicality of a two-mode quantum state by extending the method of quantifying nonclassicality for a single-mode quantum state. We then discuss the nonclassicality and entanglement properties of several different quantum states, and determine the optimal phase estimation for entangled coherent states (ecs) in the form of nonclassicality and concurrence. Accordingly, a new interferometer (linear and nonlinear) scheme is proposed by modifying a traditional interferometer. Specially, we specify a new normal ordering form of the evolution operator of nonlinear interferometer (NI) using the techniques of integration within an ordered product of operators (IWOP), and obtain the parity signal based on representation of the coherent state. By inputting several common quantum states, we further study the phase sensitivity of the linear interferometer (LI) and NI with parity detection, and perform a detailed comparison among the different input states schemes. Furthermore, we quantitatively investigated the effect of nonclassicality and entanglement on the phase sensitivity of two interferometers. These results show that nonclassicality or entanglement is very crucial but not a necessary condition for improving the phase sensitivity of interferometers.
Phase estimation has a wide range of applications. Over the years, several strategies have been studied to improve precision in phase estimation. These strategies include using exotic quantum states to quantum detection schemes. This dissertation summarizes my effort in improving the precision of phase estimation with a linear and nonlinear interferometer. Chapter 1 introduces quantum optics and quantum metrology. I introduce all relevant quantum states of light used. We also look into tools and terminologies of quantum metrology such as Fisher information, shot-noise limit, Heisenberg limit, etc., along with examples of phase estimation with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In Chapter 2, I discuss multiple phase estimation using a multimode interferometer. Building upon previous work, our scheme consists of a multimode interferometer with single-photon inputs. By using a quantum Fisher information analysis, we show that our scheme gives a constant improvement over other schemes. We also show that our scheme with photon-number-resolving detection approaches the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound. Moreover, we also consider the probabilistic nature of photon emission at the input, and we study its effect on phase sensitivity. I discuss phase estimation with SU(1,1) interferometer in Chapter 3. We look at phase sensitivity in this interferometer with different input states. Namely, we consider two different phase estimation scheme, one using thermal and squeezed states, and others using coherent and displaced squeezed states with parity and on-off as a detection scheme. We also look into the effect of photon loss inside the interferometer. In Chapter 4, we revisit phase estimation in SU(1,1) interferometer from the perspective of quantum Fisher information. I discuss in detail a longstanding confusion regarding the use of quantum Fisher information in SU(1,1) interferometer. We show that phase averaging or quantum Fisher information matrix method is needed in general for calculating the phase sensitivity which resolves inconsistencies reported in previously published articles.
In the first part of this dissertation a framework for categorizing entropic measures of nonclassical correlations in bipartite quantum states is presented. The measures are based on the difference between a quantum entropic quantity and the corresponding classical quantity obtained from measurements on the two systems. Three types of entropic quantities are used, and three different measurement strategies are applied to these quantities. Many of the resulting measures of nonclassical correlations have been proposed previously. Properties of the various measures are explored, and results of evaluating the measures for two-qubit quantum states are presented. To demonstrate how these measures differ from entanglement we move to the set of Bell-diagonal states for two qubits, which can be depicted as a tetrahedron in three dimensions. We consider the level surfaces of entanglement and of the correlation measures from our framework for Bell-diagonal states. This provides a complete picture of the structure of entanglement and discord for this simple case and, in particular, of their nonanalytic behavior under decoherence. The pictorial approach also indicates how to show that all of the proposed correlation measures are neither convex nor concave. In the second part we look at two practical interferometric setups that use nonclassical states of light to enhance their performance. First we consider an interferometer powered by laser light (a coherent state) into one input port and ask the following question: what is the best state to inject into the second input port, given a constraint on the mean number of photons this state can carry, in order to optimize the interferometer's phase sensitivity? This question is the practical question for high-sensitivity interferometry. We answer the question by considering the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound for such a setup. The answer is squeezed vacuum. Then we analyze the ultimate bounds on the phase sensitivity of an interferometer, given the constraint that the state input to the interferometer's initial 50:50 beam splitter B is a product state of the two input modes. Requiring a product state is a natural restriction: if one were allowed to input an arbitrary, entangled two-mode state ∣Ξ⟩ to the beam splitter, one could generally just as easily input the state B∣Ξ⟩ directly into the two modes after the beam splitter, thus rendering the beam splitter unnecessary. We find optimal states for a fixed photon number and for a fixed mean photon number. Our results indicate that entanglement is not a crucial resource for quantum-enhanced interferometry. Initially the analysis for both of these setups is performed for the idealized case of a lossless interferometer. Then the analysis is extended to the more realistic scenario where the interferometer suffers from photon losses.
We provide general bounds of phase estimation sensitivity in linear two-mode interferometers. We consider probe states with a fluctuating total number of particles. With incoherent mixtures of states with different total number of particles, particle entanglement is necessary but not sufficient to overcome the shot noise limit. The highest possible phase estimation sensitivity, the Heisenberg limit, is established under general unbiased properties of the estimator. If coherences can be created, manipulated, and detected, the Heisenberg limit can only be set in the central limit, with a sufficiently large repetition of interferometric measurements.
Quantifying nonclassicality of a bosonic mode is an important but challenging task in quantum optics. Recently, a nonclassicality measure based on the concept of operational resource theory has been proposed [W. Ge, K. Jacobs, S. Asiri, M. Foss-Feig, and M. S. Zubairy, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 023400 (2020)], which shows several crucial properties as a resource for quantum metrology. Here we apply the measure to evaluate and categorize different classes of nonclassical states. We discover a class of states that can achieve the maximum nonclassicality in the asymptotic limit of a large mean number of excitations. These states can provide the same sensitivity in place of a squeezed vacuum in a sensing scheme, e.g., the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) experiments. We also discover that the nonclassicality of certain states can be greatly improved with a single-photon addition. In addition, we explore some examples on how to evaluate analytically the nonclassicality of mixed states, which are in general difficult to calculate due to the convex roof nature of the measure. Our results will be useful for preparing and utilizing nonclassical states for applications in precision-sensing tasks, such as quadrature sensing and phase sensing in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
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.
We present an improved phase estimation scheme employing entangled SU(1,1) coherent states in comparison to NOON and entangled coherent states under perfect and lossy conditions for a fixed mean photon number. The study is also devoted to the phase enhancement of the quantum states resulting from a generalized nonlinearity of the phase shifts, both without and with losses. Furthermore, we show that these states give the smallest variance in the phase parameter for a large number of photons in a different order of nonlinearity. Finally, the phase sensitivity of this interferometric setting with parity detection is discussed.