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Physical Review Letters

Quantum-Enhanced Interferometer for Multiphase Sensing

Yanni Feng, Zhaoqing Zeng, Jialin Cheng, Zhaolin You, Huadong Lu, Zhihui Yan, Xiaojun Jia, Changde Xie, Kunchi Peng

Published Oct 7, 2025• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum-enhanced interferometers have been widely used in single-parameter precision measurement, and multiparameter precision measurement is the building block of numerous sensing and imaging applications. However, it remains challenging to realize high-sensitivity multiparameter sensing without increasing power, which is crucial for biological science. Here, we propose and demonstrate a deterministic quantum-enhanced interferometer, where high-sensitivity multiparameter sensing is realized by effectively squeezing noises and amplifying signals. Key technologies are essential to the results, including the parallel and sequential use of squeezed states inside the interferometer. Notably, in the quantum-enhanced three-arm interferometer, not only joint but also individual values of three signals are simultaneously measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 10.37±0.13 dB compared with that of the conventional interferometer under the same phase-sensing power. These advances constitute a critical step toward observing multiple elusive signals and give rise to a wide range of sensing and imaging applications.

DOI
10.1103/2hsx-5qfr

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Quantum-enhanced interferometers have been widely used in single-parameter precision measurement, and multiparameter precision measurement is the building block of numerous sensing and imaging applications. However, it remains challenging to realize high-sensitivity multiparameter sensing without increasing power, which is crucial for biological science. Here, we propose and demonstrate a deterministic quantum-enhanced interferometer, where high-sensitivity multiparameter sensing is realized by effectively squeezing noises and amplifying signals. Key technologies are essential to the results, including the parallel and sequential use of squeezed states inside the interferometer. Notably, in the quantum-enhanced three-arm interferometer, not only joint but also individual values of three signals are simultaneously measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 10.37±0.13 dB compared with that of the conventional interferometer under the same phase-sensing power. These advances constitute a critical step toward observing multiple elusive signals and give rise to a wide range of sensing and imaging applications.
Quantum metrology is the state-of-the-art measurement technology. It uses quantum resources to enhance the sensitivity of phase estimation over that achievable by classical physics. While single parameter estimation theory has been widely investigated, much less is known about the simultaneous estimation of multiple phases, which finds key applications in imaging and sensing. In this manuscript we provide conditions of useful particle (qudit) entanglement for multiphase estimation and adapt them to multiarm Mach-Zehnder interferometry. We theoretically discuss benchmark multimode Fock states containing useful qudit entanglement and overcoming the sensitivity of separable qudit states in three and four arm Mach-Zehnder-like interferometers - currently within the reach of integrated photonics technology.
Quantum metrology is the state-of-the-art measurement technology. It uses quantum resources to enhance the sensitivity of phase estimation beyond what reachable within classical physics. While single parameter estimation theory has been widely investigated, much less is known about the simultaneous estimation of multiple phases, which finds key applications in imaging and sensing. In this manuscript we provide conditions of useful entanglement (among multimode particles, qudits) for multiphase estimation and adapt them to multiarm Mach-Zehnder interferometry. We discuss benchmark multimode Fock states containing useful qudit entanglement and overcoming the sensitivity of separable qudit states in three and four arm Mach-Zehnder-like interferometers - currently within the reach of integrated photonics technology.
High precision interferometers are the building blocks of precision metrology and the ultimate interferometric sensitivity is limited by the quantum noise. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a compact quantum interferometer involving two optical parametric amplifiers and the squeezed states generated within the interferometer are directly used for the phase-sensing quantum state. By both squeezing shot noise and amplifying phase-sensing intensity the sensitivity improvement of 4.86±0.24 dB beyond the standard quantum limit is deterministically realized and a minimum detectable phase smaller than that of all present interferometers under the same phase-sensing intensity is achieved. This interferometric system has significantly potential applications in a variety of measurements for tiny variances of physical quantities.
Conventional interferometers usually utilize beam splitters for wave splitting and recombination. These interferometers are widely used for precision measurement. Their sensitivity for phase measurement is limited by the shot noise, which can be suppressed with squeezed states of light. Here we study a new type of interferometer in which the beam splitting and recombination elements are parametric amplifiers. We observe an improvement of 4.1±0.3 dB in signal-to-noise ratio compared with a conventional interferometer under the same operating condition, which is a 1.6-fold enhancement in rms phase measurement sensitivity beyond the shot noise limit. The improvement is due to signal enhancement. Combined with the squeezed state technique for shot noise suppression, this interferometer promises further improvement in sensitivity. Furthermore, because nonlinear processes are involved in this interferometer, we can couple a variety of different waves and form new types of hybrid interferometers, opening a door for many applications in metrology. Interferometers play a key role in precision measurements and metrology. Here, the authors demonstrate a new type of interferometer that replaces the standard beam splitter elements with parametric amplifiers, which provides enhanced performance compared with a Mach–Zehnder interferometer.
Quantum interferometers offer phase measurement capabilities that surpass the standard quantum limit (SQL), with phase sensitivity and quantum enhancement factor serving as key performance metrics. However, practical implementations face severe degradation of both metrics due to unavoidable losses, representing the foremost challenge in advancing quantum interferometry toward real-world applications. To address this challenge, we propose a coherent-amplifier-empowered quantum interferometer. The coherent amplifier dramatically suppresses the decay of both sensitivity and quantum enhancement under high-loss conditions, maintaining phase sensitivity beyond the original SQL even for losses exceeding 90%. Using an injected 4.2 dB squeezed-vacuum state in experimental demonstration, our scheme reduces the quantum enhancement degradation under 90% loss from 3.7 dB in a conventional quantum interferometer (CQI) to only 1.5 dB. More importantly, the phase sensitivity degradation under the same loss is limited to 4.0 dB, markedly outperforming the 11.2 dB degradation observed in a CQI. This improvement is enabled by the coherent amplifier's phase-sensitive photon amplification and its protection of the quantum state. This breakthrough in amplifier-empowered quantum interferometry overcomes the critical barrier to practical deployment, enabling robust quantum-enhanced measurements in lossy environments.
A nonlinear interferometer uses nonlinear elements as beam splitters to split and to recombine optical waves for interference. As a result, the interference fringe size has a nonlinear dependence on the intensity of the field for phase sensing and leads to an enhanced phase signal. In this paper, a practical scheme of nonlinear interferometry for precision phase measurement is analyzed with parametric amplifiers as the nonlinear beam splitters. It is found that the signal due to phase shift is enhanced by a factor of the amplification gain as compared to a linear interferometer with the same phase-sensing light intensity while the quantum noise is kept at the vacuum level, thus, effectively increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) beyond the standard quantum limit. Furthermore, the scheme is not as sensitive to the detection loss as the linear scheme with a squeezed state for noise reduction. However, losses inside the interferometer limit the enhancement factor in SNR. We apply the concept to a Michelson interferometer but with parametric amplifiers involved for gravitational-wave detection. We find that effective power is increased by the gain of the amplifiers without actually increasing the cycling power inside the interferometer. Furthermore, the full benefits with squeezed input and variational output or the combination of a quantum nondemolition interferometer for sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit apply here with even better results. Such a nonlinear interferometer will find wide applications in precision measurements.