Achieving Heisenberg-Scaling Precision with Projective Measurement on Single Photons

Geng Chen, Lijian Zhang, Wen-Hao Zhang, Xing-Xiang Peng, Liang Xu, Zhao-Di Liu, Xiao-Ye Xu, Jian-Shun Tang, Yong-Nan Sun, De-Yong He, Jin-Shi Xu, Zong-Quan Zhou, Chuan-Feng Li, and Guang-Can Guo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 060506 – Published 8 August 2018
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Abstract

It has been suggested that both quantum superpositions and nonlinear interactions are important resources for quantum metrology. However, to date the different roles that these two resources play in the precision enhancement are not well understood. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a Heisenberg-scaling metrology to measure the parameter governing the nonlinear coupling between two different optical modes. The intense mode with n (more than 106 in our work) photons manifests its effect through the nonlinear interaction strength which is proportional to its average photon number. The superposition state of the weak mode, which contains only a single photon, is responsible for both the linear Hamiltonian and the scaling of the measurement precision. By properly preparing the initial state of single photon and making projective photon-counting measurements, the extracted classical Fisher information (FI) can saturate the quantum FI embedded in the combined state after coupling, which is n2 and leads to a practical precision 1.2/n. Free from the utilization of entanglement, our work paves a way to realize Heisenberg-scaling precision when only a linear Hamiltonian is involved.

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  • Received 8 January 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.060506

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

Geng Chen1,2, Lijian Zhang3,4,*, Wen-Hao Zhang1,2, Xing-Xiang Peng1,2, Liang Xu3,4, Zhao-Di Liu1,2, Xiao-Ye Xu1,2, Jian-Shun Tang1,2, Yong-Nan Sun1,2, De-Yong He1,2, Jin-Shi Xu1,2, Zong-Quan Zhou1,2, Chuan-Feng Li1,2,†, and Guang-Can Guo1,2

  • 1CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
  • 2Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 3National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
  • 4Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • *lijian.zhang@nju.edu.cn
  • cfli@ustc.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 6 — 10 August 2018

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