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Frontiers of Physics

Holevo Cramér−Rao bound for multi-parameter estimation in nonlinear interferometers

Mengyao Zhou, Hongmei Ma, Liqing Chen, Weiping Zhang, Chun-Hua Yuan

Published Jan 1, 2025• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Due to the potential of quantum advantage to surpass the standard quantum limit (SQL), nonlinear interferometers have garnered significant attention from researchers in the field of precision measurement. However, many practical applications require multiparameter estimation. In this work, we discuss the precision limit of multi-parameter estimation of pure Gaussian states based on nonlinear interferometers, and derive the Holevo Cramér−Rao bound (HCRB) for the case where both modes undergo displacement estimation. Furthermore, we compare our analytical results with the quantum Cramér−Rao bound based on the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD-CRB), and with the result of the dual homodyne measurement. Through numerical analysis, we find that the HCRB equals the result of the dual homodyne measurement, whereas SLD-CRB is not saturable at small squeezed parameters. Therefore, this indicates that the HCRB is tight. Additionally, we provide intuitive analysis and visual representation of our numerical results in phase space.

DOI
10.15302/frontphys.2025.032204

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Due to the potential of quantum advantage to surpass the standard quantum limit (SQL), nonlinear interferometers have garnered significant attention from researchers in the field of precision measurement. However, many practical applications require multiparameter estimation. In this work, we discuss the precision limit of multi-parameter estimation of pure Gaussian states based on nonlinear interferometers, and derive the Holevo Cramér−Rao bound (HCRB) for the case where both modes undergo displacement estimation. Furthermore, we compare our analytical results with the quantum Cramér−Rao bound based on the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD-CRB), and with the result of the dual homodyne measurement. Through numerical analysis, we find that the HCRB equals the result of the dual homodyne measurement, whereas SLD-CRB is not saturable at small squeezed parameters. Therefore, this indicates that the HCRB is tight. Additionally, we provide intuitive analysis and visual representation of our numerical results in phase space.
Due to the potential of quantum advantage to surpass the standard quantum limit (SQL), the nonlinear interferometers have garnered significant attention from researchers in the field of precision measurement. However, many practical applications require multi-parameter estimation. In this work, we discuss the precision limit of multi-parameter estimation of pure Gaussian states based on nonlinear interferometers, and derive the Holevo Cramér-Rao Bound (HCRB) for the case where both modes undergo displacement estimation. Furthermore, we compare our analytical results with the quantum Cramér-Rao Bound based on the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD-CRB), and with the result of the dual homodyne measurement. Through numerical analysis, we find that the HCRB equals the result of the dual homodyne measurement, whereas SLD-CRB is not saturable at small squeezed parameters. Therefore, this indicates that the HCRB is tight. Additionally, we provide intuitive analysis and visual representation of our numerical results in phase space.
Abstract We discuss the ultimate precision bounds on the multiparameter estimation of single- and two-mode pure Gaussian states. By leveraging on previous approaches that focused on the estimation of a complex displacement only, we derive the Holevo Cramér–Rao bound (HCRB) for both displacement and squeezing parameter characterizing single and two-mode squeezed states. In the single-mode scenario, we obtain an analytical bound and find that it degrades monotonically as the squeezing increases. Furthermore, we prove that heterodyne detection is nearly optimal in the large squeezing limit, but in general the optimal measurement must include non-Gaussian resources. On the other hand, in the two-mode setting, the HCRB improves as the squeezing parameter grows and we show that it can be attained using double-homodyne detection.
One key aspect of quantum metrology, measurement incompatibility, is evident only through the simultaneous estimation of multiple parameters. The symmetric logarithmic derivative Cramér-Rao bound (SLDCRB), gives the attainable precision, if the optimal measurements for estimating each individual parameter commute. When the optimal measurements do not commute, the SLDCRB is not necessarily attainable. In this regard, the Holevo Cramér-Rao bound (HCRB) plays a fundamental role, providing the ultimate attainable precisions when one allows simultaneous measurements on infinitely many copies of a quantum state. For practical purposes, the Nagaoka Cramér-Rao bound (NCRB) is more relevant, applying when restricted to measuring quantum states individually. The interplay between these three bounds dictates how rapidly the ultimate metrological precisions can be approached through collective measurements on finite copies of the probe state. We first consider two parameter estimation and prove that if the HCRB cannot be saturated with a single copy of the probe state, then it cannot be saturated for any finite number of copies of the probe state. With this, we show that it is impossible to saturate the HCRB for several physically motivated problems. For estimating any number of parameters, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the attainability of the SLDCRB with separable measurements. We further prove that if the SLDCRB cannot be reached with a single copy of the probe state, it cannot be reached with collective measurements on any finite number of copies of the probe state. These results together provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the attainability of the SLDCRB for any finite number of copies of the probe state. This solves a significant generalisation of one of the five problems recently highlighted by [P.Horodecki et al, Phys. Rev. X Quantum 3, 010101 (2022)].
The estimation of multiple parameters in quantum metrology is important for a vast array of applications in quantum information processing.However, the unattainability of fundamental precision bounds for incompatible observables greatly diminishes the applicability of estimation theory in many practical implementations.The Holevo Cramér-Rao bound (HCRB) provides the most fundamental, simultaneously attainable bound for multiparameter estimation problems.A general closed form for the HCRB is not known given that it requires a complex optimization over multiple variables.In this work, we develop an analytic approach to solving the HCRB for two parameters.Our analysis reveals the role of the HCRB and its interplay with alternative bounds in estimation theory.For more parameters, we generate a lower bound to the HCRB.Our work greatly reduces the complexity of determining the HCRB to solving a set of linear equations that even numerically permits a quadratic speedup over previous state-of-the-art approaches.We apply our results to compare the performance of different probe states in magnetic field sensing and characterize the performance of state tomography on the code space of noisy bosonic error-correcting codes.The sensitivity of state tomography on noisy binomial code states can be improved by tuning two coding parameters that relate to the number of correctable phase and amplitude damping errors.Our work provides fundamental insights and makes significant progress toward the estimation of multiple incompatible observables.
The quantum Cramér-Rao bound constrains the precision of parameter estimation through the symmetric logarithmic derivative quantum Fisher information (SLD QFI). It is asymptotically achievable for regular single-parameter estimation models, but generally not in the multiparameter setting, where optimal measurements for different parameters may be incompatible. For multiparameter estimation, allowing collective measurements, the corresponding asymptotically achievable precision limit is the Holevo bound, whose standard formulation is an optimization over auxiliary Hermitian operators. We bridge this apparent difference in formulation by giving an exact characterization of the Holevo bound in terms of a family of QFIs interpolating between the SLD and right logarithmic derivative (RLD) QFIs. Specifically, for any locally identifiable finite-dimensional estimation problem, we prove that the operator-feasible region in the standard variational definition of the Holevo bound coincides with the intersection of the regions defined by the corresponding Cramér-Rao-type matrix constraints for the entire QFI family. This characterization also applies to rank-deficient states and does not require any prior choice of weight matrix. Consequently, the conventional weight-dependent Holevo bound is recovered by minimizing the corresponding weighted cost over the resulting common feasible region.
Only with the simultaneous estimation of multiple parameters are the quantum aspects of metrology fully revealed. This is due to the incompatibility of observables. The fundamental bound for multiparameter quantum estimation is the Holevo Cramér-Rao bound (HCRB) whose evaluation has so far remained elusive. For finite-dimensional systems we recast its evaluation as a semidefinite program, with reduced size for rank-deficient states. We show that it also satisfies strong duality. We use this result to study phase and loss estimation in optical interferometry and three-dimensional magnetometry with noisy multiqubit systems. For the former, we show that, in some regimes, it is possible to attain the HCRB with the optimal (single-copy) measurement for phase estimation. For the latter, we show a nontrivial interplay between the HCRB and incompatibility and provide numerical evidence that projective single-copy measurements attain the HCRB in the noiseless 2-qubit case.