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Optics Continuum

Quantum sensing of the rotational Doppler effect

Ofir Yesharim, Guy Tshuva, Ady Arie

Published Aug 11, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The rotational Doppler effect (RDE) is the angular analog of the linear Doppler effect, manifested by a frequency shift of a wave that is scattered from a rotating object. Here, we extend the sensing of this effect to the quantum optical regime. We demonstrate quantum Doppler shift sensing using a rotating photonic gear—a pair of spiral phase plates with opposite topological charge—in a two-photon N00N state interferometer. Continuous rotation of one plate produces time-varying coincidence fringes that reveal the rotational Doppler shift. The oscillation frequency scales with the topological charge ℓ of the spiral phase plate and the photon number N . Experiments with ℓ = 16 and ℓ = 128 confirm the predicted linear scaling while maintaining visibility, enabling quantum rotation sensing of slowly rotating objects.

DOI
10.1364/optcon.601798

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The rotational Doppler effect (RDE) is the angular analog of the linear Doppler effect, manifested by a frequency shift of a wave that is scattered from a rotating object. Here, we extend the sensing of this effect to the quantum optical regime. We demonstrate quantum Doppler shift sensing using a rotating photonic gear—a pair of spiral phase plates with opposite topological charge—in a two-photon N00N state interferometer. Continuous rotation of one plate produces time-varying coincidence fringes that reveal the rotational Doppler shift. The oscillation frequency scales with the topological charge ℓ of the spiral phase plate and the photon number N . Experiments with ℓ = 16 and ℓ = 128 confirm the predicted linear scaling while maintaining visibility, enabling quantum rotation sensing of slowly rotating objects.
Quantum metrology leverages quantum correlations for enhanced parameter estimation. Recently, structured light enabled increased resolution and sensitivity in quantum metrology systems. However, lossy and complex setups impacting photon flux, hinder true quantum advantage while using high dimensional structured light. We introduce a straightforward mechanical rotation quantum sensing mechanism, employing high-dimensional structured light and a compact high-flux (45,000 coincidence counts per second) N00N state source with N=2. The system utilizes two opposite spiral phase plates with topological charge of up to l=16 that convert mechanical rotation into wavefront phase shifts, and exhibit a 16-fold enhanced super-resolution and 25-fold enhanced sensitivity between different topological charges, while retaining the acquisition times and with negligible change in coincidence count. Furthermore, the high photon flux enables to detect mechanical angular acceleration in real-time. Our approach paves the way for highly sensitive quantum measurements, applicable to various interferometric schemes.
Quantum metrology leverages quantum correlations for enhanced parameter estimation. Recently, structured light enabled increased resolution and sensitivity in quantum metrology systems. However, lossy and complex setups impacting photon flux hinder true quantum advantage while using high dimensional structured light. We introduce a straightforward mechanical rotation quantum sensing mechanism, employing high-dimensional structured light and use it with a high-flux (45 000 coincidence counts per second) N00N state source with N = 2. The system utilizes two opposite spiral phase plates with topological charge of up to ℓ = 16 that converts mechanical rotation into wavefront phase shifts and exhibit a 16-fold enhanced super-resolution and 25-fold enhanced sensitivity between different topological charges, while retaining the acquisition times, and with negligible change in coincidence count. Furthermore, the high efficiency together with the high photon flux enables detection of mechanical angular acceleration in real-time. Our approach paves the way for highly sensitive quantum measurements, applicable to various interferometric schemes.
The notion of the rotational frequency shift, an analog of the Doppler shift, is introduced. This new frequency shift occurs for atomic systems that lack rotational invariance, but have stationary states in a rotating frame. The rotational frequency shift is given by the scalar product of the angular velocity and the angular momentum of the emitted photon in full analogy with the standard Doppler shift which is given by the scalar product of the linear velocity of the source and the linear momentum of the photon. The rotational frequency shift can be observed only in a M\"ossbauer-like regime when the angular recoil is negligible.
The rotational Doppler shift of a photon with orbital angular momentum ±ℓℏ is shown to be an even multiple of the angular frequency Ω of the reference frame rotation when the photon is reflected from the phase-conjugating mirror. The one-arm phase-conjugating interferometer is considered. It contains N Dove prisms or other angular-momentum-altering elements rotating in opposite directions. When such interferometer is placed in the rotating vehicle, the δω=4(N+1/2)ℓ·Ω rotational Doppler shift appears. As a result, the helical interference pattern will rotate with angular frequency δω/2ℓ. The accumulation of angular Doppler shift via successive passages through the N image-inverting prisms is due to the phase conjugation; for a conventional parabolic retroreflector, the accumulation is absent. The features of such a vortex phase-conjugating interferometry at the single-photon level are discussed.