Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Receiver-Limited Fisher Information for Quantum Sensors under Realistic Readout

Juan Sumaya-Martinez, Omar Olmos-López, Cristian Adán Mojica Casique, Jorge Mulia Rodríguez

Published Oct 26, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Quantum Fisher information quantifies the sensitivity encoded in a parameter-dependent quantum state, whereas the performance of a practical sensor is limited by the information that survives the physical channel and can be extracted by the available receiver. We introduce an accessible Fisher-information framework based on a physically admissible family of measurements and use it to separate state-level sensitivity, channel degradation, and receiver limitations. The framework is applied to Ramsey and NOON interferometry, squeezed-state displacement sensing, two-level thermometry, and multiparameter qubit sensing. We show that resource normalization, finite visibility, readout errors, measurement rank, shot allocation, calibration uncertainty, and nuisance parameters can substantially modify the experimentally available advantage. For squeezed-state sensing, homodyne-axis misalignment produces a finite optimal squeezing, while bounded calibration uncertainty leads to a robust operating rule. In the pure-loss model considered here, attenuation reduces the attainable information without shifting this optimum. The results provide practical design rules that connect quantum-enhanced state preparation with realistic measurement constraints and experimentally extractable sensing performance.

DOI
10.21203/rs.3.rs-11331618/v1

Related papers

Fundamental and operational limitations of Fisher-information-based quantum metrology

Zdeněk Hradil, Jaroslav Řeháček

Quantum-enhanced sensing is commonly benchmarked using the quantum Fisher information (QFI), often interpreted as a direct indicator of achievable precision. However, such an interpreta- tion is only justified within a fully specified inference framework that consistently incorporates state preparation, measurement design, resource accounting, estimator construction, prior information, and finite data effects. Here we develop an operational, end-to-end framework for quantum sensing under finite resources and identify general principles required for meaningful performance assess- ment. A central conceptual point is that the relevant unit of estimation is not a single detection event, but the complete data set required to construct a consistent estimator. Rather than relying on abstract statistical formalism, we analyze a set of paradigmatic and experimentally relevant ex- amples that expose common pitfalls in widely discussed quantum sensing strategies. These include quantum interferometry, sensing with squeezed states, and criticality-inspired protocols. Our results clarify when large Fisher information or nonclassical resources translate into genuine metrological advantage, and when they do not. They further provide a practical methodology for designing and evaluating quantum sensing protocols under realistic experimental constraints.

quant-pharXiv:2603.08306•Mar 10, 2026•1 citation

Quantum Fisher-information limits of resonant nanophotonic sensors: why high-Q is not optimal even at the quantum limit

J. Sumaya-Martinez

We develop a quantum metrological framework for resonant nanophotonic sensors based on subwavelength Fabry--Perot slit cavities. Building on classical Fisher-information analyses of resonant transmission sensors, we model parameter encoding as a phase-and-loss quantum channel embedded in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We derive the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for coherent and Gaussian probe states under linear loss and show that, even at the quantum limit, optimal estimation precision is governed by the generator of parameter-dependent phase shifts rather than by the cavity quality factor. Consequently, the operating point that maximizes the QFI does not generally coincide with the maximum-Q resonance. Quantum resources enhance sensitivity but do not redefine the optimal geometry. Our results provide physically transparent design principles for quantum-enhanced nanophotonic sensing.

quant-pharXiv:2512.14899•Dec 18, 2025•0 citations

Fisher-Information Recovery in Superconducting-Qubit Magnetometry with Squeezed-Microwave Readout

M. -R. Yun, Y. -J. Qu, Zheng Shan +3 more

The performance of superconducting-qubit magnetometers depends not only on magnetic-field encoding during Ramsey interrogation, but also on how efficiently the encoded information is recovered during readout. Squeezed microwaves provide a promising route to improve information extraction by suppressing readout noise, yet how such readout enhancement translates into accessible information for magnetic-field estimation remains unclear. Here we develop an effective detected-mode framework linking projected quadrature noise, state-assignment error, and the classical Fisher information accessible from binary readout outcomes. A finite mismatch between the squeezed quadrature and the discrimination axis produces an optimal squeezing strength through the competition between squeezed and anti-squeezed fluctuations. We further show that squeezed readout improves the readout-limited magnetic-field sensitivity by recovering information otherwise lost during state assignment, with the enhancement remaining robust against quadrature mismatch, transmission loss, and added noise. These results establish a quantitative connection between squeezed-microwave readout and measurement-stage information recovery in superconducting quantum sensing.

quant-pharXiv:2609.08598•Sep 9, 2026•0 citations

Theoretical Limits of Quantum Ranging

Bünyamin Kartal

The ability to determine distances from dedicated measurements, namely active ranging, is crucial in a variety of systems including localization, radar, and lidar. This thesis establishes the quantum limits and determines the quantum advantage provided by single-beam displaced squeezed states in active ranging. Analytical expressions of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) are provided for monochromatic and continuous-mode waves passing through a thermal loss channel with arbitrary loss and noise conditions. The optimal allocation of system resources for performing displacement and squeezing operations is determined. The optimal allocation consists of apportioning all resources to perform either the displacement operation, providing no quantum advantage, or the squeezing operation. Analytical results are examined in optical and microwave regimes. The optimal gain, i.e., the ratio between the QFI obtained by optimal resource allocation and the QFI obtained by performing only the displacement operation, is derived for the optical and microwave regimes. Quantum advantage afforded by the prototypical heterodyne receiver is also investigated. The results of this thesis pave the way for establishing a foundation of active ranging and provide insights for system design employing currently available quantum technologies.

•May 1, 2025•0 citations

Physics-Constrained Compressed Sensing for Quantum Sensing in the Data-Starved Regime

Amir Kalev

Quantum sensors promise measurement sensitivities that can scale at the Heisenberg limit, but in practice their performance is often degraded by noise, finite sampling, and implementation imperfections. In this work we present a general framework for improving parameter estimation in such settings by exploiting intrinsic structural constraints of time-domain correlation functions. Our approach builds on the observation of Kemper et al. [PRL 132, 160403 (2024)] that two-time correlation functions of Hermitian observables generate Gram matrices that are positive semidefinite, a property that can be violated in experimentally acquired data. We formulate signal reconstruction as a convex optimization problem that enforces positive semidefiniteness, Toeplitz structure, and low-rank priors motivated by the underlying dynamics. We show analytically that, under suitable conditions, the ground-truth signal can be uniquely identified in the noiseless case and recovered stably in the presence of noise. We further demonstrate numerically, in a GHZ-based magnetometry protocol, that enforcing these physical constraints can significantly improve frequency estimation from sparse and noisy data. In particular, we observe a clear advantage in the data-starved regime, where only a small number of time samples are available and standard spectral estimation methods, including matrix pencil techniques, provide limited or unstable improvement over direct fitting. While the reconstructed signals do not in general reach the shot-noise-limited performance, the proposed approach consistently reduces estimation error and recovers much of the underlying structure of the signal. These results indicate that incorporating universal physical constraints into data analysis can enhance the practical performance of quantum sensing protocols without requiring additional hardware resources or calibration.

quant-pharXiv:2608.11092•Quantum Science and Technology•Aug 12, 2026•0 citations

Fragility of Optimal Measurements due to Noise in Probe States for Quantum Sensing

Andrew Kolmer Forbes, Marco A. Rodríguez-García, Ivan H. Deutsch

For a given quantum state used in sensing, the quantum Cramér-Rao bound (QCRB) sets a fundamental limit on the precision achievable by an unbiased estimator of an unknown parameter, determined by the inverse of the quantum Fisher information (QFI). The QFI serves as an upper bound on the classical Fisher information (CFI), representing the maximum extractable information about the unknown parameter from measurements on a physical system. Thus, a central goal in quantum parameter estimation is to find a measurement, described by a POVM, that saturates the QFI (achieves maximum CFI), and thereby achieves the QCRB. In the idealization that one uses pure states and unitary encodings for sensing, discontinuities can appear in the CFI but not the QFI. In this article, we demonstrate that these discontinuities are important features, quantifying how much Fisher information is lost in the presence of noise. We refer to this as the Fisher information "fragility". We present a simple framework for understanding how discontinuities increase fragility through Jensen's inequality, and demonstrate how one can use this framework to design more robust POVMs for quantum advantage in metrology.

quant-pharXiv:2601.08712•Jan 14, 2026•0 citations
Abstract Quantum Fisher information quantifies the sensitivity encoded in a parameter-dependent quantum state, whereas the performance of a practical sensor is limited by the information that survives the physical channel and can be extracted by the available receiver. We introduce an accessible Fisher-information framework based on a physically admissible family of measurements and use it to separate state-level sensitivity, channel degradation, and receiver limitations. The framework is applied to Ramsey and NOON interferometry, squeezed-state displacement sensing, two-level thermometry, and multiparameter qubit sensing. We show that resource normalization, finite visibility, readout errors, measurement rank, shot allocation, calibration uncertainty, and nuisance parameters can substantially modify the experimentally available advantage. For squeezed-state sensing, homodyne-axis misalignment produces a finite optimal squeezing, while bounded calibration uncertainty leads to a robust operating rule. In the pure-loss model considered here, attenuation reduces the attainable information without shifting this optimum. The results provide practical design rules that connect quantum-enhanced state preparation with realistic measurement constraints and experimentally extractable sensing performance.
Quantum-enhanced sensing is commonly benchmarked using the quantum Fisher information (QFI), often interpreted as a direct indicator of achievable precision. However, such an interpreta- tion is only justified within a fully specified inference framework that consistently incorporates state preparation, measurement design, resource accounting, estimator construction, prior information, and finite data effects. Here we develop an operational, end-to-end framework for quantum sensing under finite resources and identify general principles required for meaningful performance assess- ment. A central conceptual point is that the relevant unit of estimation is not a single detection event, but the complete data set required to construct a consistent estimator. Rather than relying on abstract statistical formalism, we analyze a set of paradigmatic and experimentally relevant ex- amples that expose common pitfalls in widely discussed quantum sensing strategies. These include quantum interferometry, sensing with squeezed states, and criticality-inspired protocols. Our results clarify when large Fisher information or nonclassical resources translate into genuine metrological advantage, and when they do not. They further provide a practical methodology for designing and evaluating quantum sensing protocols under realistic experimental constraints.
We develop a quantum metrological framework for resonant nanophotonic sensors based on subwavelength Fabry--Perot slit cavities. Building on classical Fisher-information analyses of resonant transmission sensors, we model parameter encoding as a phase-and-loss quantum channel embedded in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We derive the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for coherent and Gaussian probe states under linear loss and show that, even at the quantum limit, optimal estimation precision is governed by the generator of parameter-dependent phase shifts rather than by the cavity quality factor. Consequently, the operating point that maximizes the QFI does not generally coincide with the maximum-Q resonance. Quantum resources enhance sensitivity but do not redefine the optimal geometry. Our results provide physically transparent design principles for quantum-enhanced nanophotonic sensing.
The performance of superconducting-qubit magnetometers depends not only on magnetic-field encoding during Ramsey interrogation, but also on how efficiently the encoded information is recovered during readout. Squeezed microwaves provide a promising route to improve information extraction by suppressing readout noise, yet how such readout enhancement translates into accessible information for magnetic-field estimation remains unclear. Here we develop an effective detected-mode framework linking projected quadrature noise, state-assignment error, and the classical Fisher information accessible from binary readout outcomes. A finite mismatch between the squeezed quadrature and the discrimination axis produces an optimal squeezing strength through the competition between squeezed and anti-squeezed fluctuations. We further show that squeezed readout improves the readout-limited magnetic-field sensitivity by recovering information otherwise lost during state assignment, with the enhancement remaining robust against quadrature mismatch, transmission loss, and added noise. These results establish a quantitative connection between squeezed-microwave readout and measurement-stage information recovery in superconducting quantum sensing.
The ability to determine distances from dedicated measurements, namely active ranging, is crucial in a variety of systems including localization, radar, and lidar. This thesis establishes the quantum limits and determines the quantum advantage provided by single-beam displaced squeezed states in active ranging. Analytical expressions of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) are provided for monochromatic and continuous-mode waves passing through a thermal loss channel with arbitrary loss and noise conditions. The optimal allocation of system resources for performing displacement and squeezing operations is determined. The optimal allocation consists of apportioning all resources to perform either the displacement operation, providing no quantum advantage, or the squeezing operation. Analytical results are examined in optical and microwave regimes. The optimal gain, i.e., the ratio between the QFI obtained by optimal resource allocation and the QFI obtained by performing only the displacement operation, is derived for the optical and microwave regimes. Quantum advantage afforded by the prototypical heterodyne receiver is also investigated. The results of this thesis pave the way for establishing a foundation of active ranging and provide insights for system design employing currently available quantum technologies.
Quantum sensors promise measurement sensitivities that can scale at the Heisenberg limit, but in practice their performance is often degraded by noise, finite sampling, and implementation imperfections. In this work we present a general framework for improving parameter estimation in such settings by exploiting intrinsic structural constraints of time-domain correlation functions. Our approach builds on the observation of Kemper et al. [PRL 132, 160403 (2024)] that two-time correlation functions of Hermitian observables generate Gram matrices that are positive semidefinite, a property that can be violated in experimentally acquired data. We formulate signal reconstruction as a convex optimization problem that enforces positive semidefiniteness, Toeplitz structure, and low-rank priors motivated by the underlying dynamics. We show analytically that, under suitable conditions, the ground-truth signal can be uniquely identified in the noiseless case and recovered stably in the presence of noise. We further demonstrate numerically, in a GHZ-based magnetometry protocol, that enforcing these physical constraints can significantly improve frequency estimation from sparse and noisy data. In particular, we observe a clear advantage in the data-starved regime, where only a small number of time samples are available and standard spectral estimation methods, including matrix pencil techniques, provide limited or unstable improvement over direct fitting. While the reconstructed signals do not in general reach the shot-noise-limited performance, the proposed approach consistently reduces estimation error and recovers much of the underlying structure of the signal. These results indicate that incorporating universal physical constraints into data analysis can enhance the practical performance of quantum sensing protocols without requiring additional hardware resources or calibration.
For a given quantum state used in sensing, the quantum Cramér-Rao bound (QCRB) sets a fundamental limit on the precision achievable by an unbiased estimator of an unknown parameter, determined by the inverse of the quantum Fisher information (QFI). The QFI serves as an upper bound on the classical Fisher information (CFI), representing the maximum extractable information about the unknown parameter from measurements on a physical system. Thus, a central goal in quantum parameter estimation is to find a measurement, described by a POVM, that saturates the QFI (achieves maximum CFI), and thereby achieves the QCRB. In the idealization that one uses pure states and unitary encodings for sensing, discontinuities can appear in the CFI but not the QFI. In this article, we demonstrate that these discontinuities are important features, quantifying how much Fisher information is lost in the presence of noise. We refer to this as the Fisher information "fragility". We present a simple framework for understanding how discontinuities increase fragility through Jensen's inequality, and demonstrate how one can use this framework to design more robust POVMs for quantum advantage in metrology.