Ultimate Precision Limits for Noisy Frequency Estimation

Andrea Smirne, Jan Kołodyński, Susana F. Huelga, and Rafał Demkowicz-Dobrzański
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 120801 – Published 24 March 2016
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Quantum metrology protocols allow us to surpass precision limits typical to classical statistics. However, in recent years, no-go theorems have been formulated, which state that typical forms of uncorrelated noise can constrain the quantum enhancement to a constant factor and, thus, bound the error to the standard asymptotic scaling. In particular, that is the case of time-homogeneous (Lindbladian) dephasing and, more generally, all semigroup dynamics that include phase covariant terms, which commute with the system Hamiltonian. We show that the standard scaling can be surpassed when the dynamics is no longer ruled by a semigroup and becomes time inhomogeneous. In this case, the ultimate precision is determined by the system short-time behavior, which when exhibiting the natural Zeno regime leads to a nonstandard asymptotic resolution. In particular, we demonstrate that the relevant noise feature dictating the precision is the violation of the semigroup property at short time scales, while non-Markovianity does not play any specific role.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 16 November 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.120801

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

General Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Andrea Smirne1, Jan Kołodyński2, Susana F. Huelga1, and Rafał Demkowicz-Dobrzański3

  • 1Institute of Theoretical Physics, Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11D-89069 Ulm, Germany
  • 2ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
  • 3Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 12 — 25 March 2016

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×