Quantum-enhanced measurements without entanglement

Quantum-enhanced measurements exploit quantum mechanical effects for increasing the sensitivity of measurements of certain physical parameters and have great potential for both fundamental science and concrete applications. Most of the research has so far focused on using highly entangled states, which are, however, difficult to produce and to stabilize for a large number of constituents. In the following alternative mechanisms are reviewed, notably the use of more general quantum correlations such as quantum discord, identical particles, or nontrivial Hamiltonians; the estimation of thermodynamical parameters or parameters characterizing nonequilibrium states; and the use of quantum phase transitions. Both theoretically achievable enhancements and enhanced sensitivities not primarily based on entanglement that have already been demonstrated experimentally and indicate some possible future research directions are described.

Figure 1

General setup of quantum parameter estimation. A quantum measurement of a system in quantum state ${\rho }_{\theta }$ that depends on a classical parameter $\theta$ is performed (general POVM measurement) and produces data $x_1,\dots ,x_M$. The data are analyzed with an estimator function that outputs an estimate ${\theta }_{\mathrm{est}}$ of $\theta$. The goal is to obtain an unbiased estimate with as small as possible statistical fluctuations.