We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as determinis... more We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit (DQC1). Using only one pure qubit together with $l$ fully-mixed qubits we obtain measurement precision at the standard quantum limit, which is typically obtained using the same number of uncorrelated qubits in fully-pure states. The standard quantum limit can be exceeded using an additional qubit, which adds only a small amount of purity. We show that the discord in the final state vanishes only in the limit of attaining infinite precision for the parameter being estimated.
We investigate the use of a non-degenerate parametric oscillator (NDPO) as a source for quantum l... more We investigate the use of a non-degenerate parametric oscillator (NDPO) as a source for quantum lithography, for which the light can have high-flux and strong non-classical features. This builds on the proposal of Boto, et al. [A. N. Boto, et al., PRL (85), 2733 (2000)], for etching simple patterns on multi-photon absorbing materials with sub-Rayleigh resolution, using special two-mode entangled states of light. An NDPO has two outgoing modes differentiated by polarization or direction of propagation, but sharing the same optical frequency. We derive analytical expressions for the multi-photon absorption rates when the NDPO is operated below, near, and above its threshold. The resulting interference patterns are characterized by an effective wavelength half that for the illuminating modes. We compare our results with those for the case of a high-gain optical amplifier source, and discuss the relative merit of the NDPO.
The study of optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) has been successful in describing and creating ... more The study of optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) has been successful in describing and creating nonclassical light for use in fields such as quantum metrology and quantum lithography [Agarwal , J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24, 2 (2007)]. In this paper we present the theory of an OPA scheme utilizing an entangled state input. The scheme involves two identical OPAs seeded with the maximally path-entangled |N00N> state (|2,0>+|0,2>)/2 . The stimulated amplification results in output state probability amplitudes that have a dependence on the number of photons in each mode, which differs greatly from two-mode squeezed vacuum. A large family of entangled output states are found. Specific output states allow for the heralded creation of N=4 N00N states, which may be used for quantum lithography, to write sub-Rayleigh fringe patterns, and for quantum interferometry, to achieve Heisenberg-limited phase measurement sensitivity.
International Conference on Quantum Information, 2007
Recent research in linear optical quantum information processing [1] has led to the development o... more Recent research in linear optical quantum information processing [1] has led to the development of techniques that allow for the generation of entangled-photon states [2], which may be exploited for super-resolution imaging below the Rayleigh limit [3], and super-sensitive remote sensing below the shot-noise limit [4]. We have recently clarified the relationship between linear optics with projective measurements, the workhorse of linear optical quantum information processing, and more usual science of nonlinear optics [5]. We do this by quantifying just ...
ABSTRACT One of the best signatures of nonclassicality in a quantum system is the existence of co... more ABSTRACT One of the best signatures of nonclassicality in a quantum system is the existence of correlations that have no classical counterpart. Different methods for quantifying the quantum and classical parts of the correlations are amongst the most actively-studied topics of quantum information theory in the past decade. Entanglement is the most prominent of these correlations, but in many cases unentangled states exhibit nonclassi-cal behavior. Thus distinguishing quantum correlation other than entanglement provides a better division between the quantum and classical worlds, especially when considering mixed states. Here we review different notions of classical and quantum correlations quantified by quantum discord and other related measures. In the first half we review the mathematical properties of the measures of quantum correlation, relate them to each other, and discuss the classical-quantum division that is common among them. In the second half, we show that the measures quantum correlation identify and quantify the deviation from classicality in various quantum information-processing tasks, quan-tum thermodynamics, open-system dynamics, and many-body physics. We show that in many cases quantum correlations indicate an advantage of quantum methods over classical ones.
Quantum metrology research promises approaches to build new sensors that achieve the ultimate lev... more Quantum metrology research promises approaches to build new sensors that achieve the ultimate level of precision measurement and perform fundamentally better than modern sensors. Practical schemes that tolerate realistic fabrication imperfections and environmental noise are required in order to realise quantum-enhanced sensors and to enable their real-world application. We have demonstrated the key enabling principles of a practical, loss-tolerant approach to photonic quantum metrology designed to harness all multi-photon components in spontaneous parametric downconversion---a method for generating multiple photons that we show requires no further fundamental state engineering for use in practical quantum metrology. We observe a quantum advantage of 28% in precision measurement of optical phase using the four-photon detection component of this scheme, despite 83% system loss. This opens the way to new quantum sensors based on current quantum-optical capabilities.
We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for ... more We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for precision measurement. The symmetry of these bipartite quantum states, even under losses, suggests that monitoring correlations between the divergent beams permits a high-precision inference of any symmetry-breaking effect, e.g. fiber birefringence. We show that the quantity of entanglement is not the key feature for such an instrument. In a lossless setting, scaling of precision at the ultimate `Heisenberg' limit is possible with photon counting alone. Even as photon losses approach 100% the precision is shot-noise limited, and we identify the crossover point between quantum and classical precision as a function of detected flux. The predicted hypersensitivity is demonstrated with a Bayesian simulation.
We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for ... more We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for precision measurement. The symmetry of these bipartite quantum states, even under losses, suggests that monitoring correlations between the divergent beams permits a high-precision inference of any symmetry-breaking effect, e.g., fiber birefringence. We show that the quantity of entanglement is not the key feature for such an instrument. In a lossless setting, scaling of precision at the ultimate ``Heisenberg'' limit is possible with photon counting alone. Even as photon losses approach 100% the precision is shot-noise limited, and we identify the crossover point between quantum and classical precision as a function of detected flux. The predicted hypersensitivity is demonstrated with a Bayesian simulation.
A fundamental task in photonics is to characterise an unknown optical process, defined by propert... more A fundamental task in photonics is to characterise an unknown optical process, defined by properties such as birefringence, spectral response, thickness and flatness. Amongst many ways to achieve this, single-photon probes can be used in a method called quantum process tomography (QPT). Furthermore, QPT is an essential method in determining how a process acts on quantum mechanical states. For example for quantum technology, QPT is used to characterise multi-qubit processors and quantum communication channels; across quantum physics QPT of some form is often the first experimental investigation of a new physical process, as shown in the recent research into coherent transport in biological mechanisms. However, the precision of QPT is limited by the fact that measurements with single-particle probes are subject to unavoidable shot noise---this holds for both single photon and laser probes. In situations where measurement resources are limited, for example, where the process is rapidly changing or the time bandwidth is constrained, it becomes essential to overcome this precision limit. Here we devise and demonstrate a scheme for tomography which exploits non-classical input states and quantum interferences; unlike previous QPT methods our scheme capitalises upon the possibility to use simultaneously multiple photons per mode. The efficiency---quantified by precision per photon used---scales with larger photon number input states. Our demonstration uses four-photon states and our results show a substantial reduction of statistical fluctuations compared to traditional QPT methods---in the ideal case one four-photon probe state yields the same amount of statistical information as twelve single probe photons.
It is commonly believed that decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum information processing. ... more It is commonly believed that decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum information processing. In contrast to this, we show how decoherence in the form of dissipation can improve the performance of certain quantum gates. As an example we consider the realisations of a controlled phase gate and a two-qubit SWAP operation with the help of a single laser pulse
We analyze the effects of quantum correlations, like entanglement and discord, on the efficiency ... more We analyze the effects of quantum correlations, like entanglement and discord, on the efficiency of phase estimation by studying four experimentally-feasible setups. In addition to the standard resource assumption of space (number of qubits) and time (number of gates) requirements we introduce mixedness as a constraint of the experiment. We compare the efficiency of the four strategies, each optimized within a correlation-class, as a function of mixedness. We find that the optimal quantum strategy gives a quadratic enhancement over the standard strategy for the same amount of mixedness. This results apply even for highly-mixed states that have nonclassical correlations but no entanglement.
We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as \emph{dete... more We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as \emph{deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit} (DQC1). Using only one pure qubit together with $l$ fully-mixed qubits we obtain measurement precision at the standard quantum limit, which is typically obtained using the same number of uncorrelated qubits in fully-pure states. The standard quantum limit can be exceeded using an additional qubit which adds only a small amount of purity. We show that the discord in the final state vanishes only in the limit of attaining infinite precision for the parameter being estimated.
A novel scheme for unitary quantum process tomography (QPT) is theoretically presented and implem... more A novel scheme for unitary quantum process tomography (QPT) is theoretically presented and implemented experimentally. Multi-photon input states are used to obtain quantum-enhanced precision for the unitary estimation. Our results are compared to standard QPT.
We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as determinis... more We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit (DQC1). Using only one pure qubit together with $l$ fully-mixed qubits we obtain measurement precision at the standard quantum limit, which is typically obtained using the same number of uncorrelated qubits in fully-pure states. The standard quantum limit can be exceeded using an additional qubit, which adds only a small amount of purity. We show that the discord in the final state vanishes only in the limit of attaining infinite precision for the parameter being estimated.
We investigate the use of a non-degenerate parametric oscillator (NDPO) as a source for quantum l... more We investigate the use of a non-degenerate parametric oscillator (NDPO) as a source for quantum lithography, for which the light can have high-flux and strong non-classical features. This builds on the proposal of Boto, et al. [A. N. Boto, et al., PRL (85), 2733 (2000)], for etching simple patterns on multi-photon absorbing materials with sub-Rayleigh resolution, using special two-mode entangled states of light. An NDPO has two outgoing modes differentiated by polarization or direction of propagation, but sharing the same optical frequency. We derive analytical expressions for the multi-photon absorption rates when the NDPO is operated below, near, and above its threshold. The resulting interference patterns are characterized by an effective wavelength half that for the illuminating modes. We compare our results with those for the case of a high-gain optical amplifier source, and discuss the relative merit of the NDPO.
The study of optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) has been successful in describing and creating ... more The study of optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) has been successful in describing and creating nonclassical light for use in fields such as quantum metrology and quantum lithography [Agarwal , J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24, 2 (2007)]. In this paper we present the theory of an OPA scheme utilizing an entangled state input. The scheme involves two identical OPAs seeded with the maximally path-entangled |N00N> state (|2,0>+|0,2>)/2 . The stimulated amplification results in output state probability amplitudes that have a dependence on the number of photons in each mode, which differs greatly from two-mode squeezed vacuum. A large family of entangled output states are found. Specific output states allow for the heralded creation of N=4 N00N states, which may be used for quantum lithography, to write sub-Rayleigh fringe patterns, and for quantum interferometry, to achieve Heisenberg-limited phase measurement sensitivity.
International Conference on Quantum Information, 2007
Recent research in linear optical quantum information processing [1] has led to the development o... more Recent research in linear optical quantum information processing [1] has led to the development of techniques that allow for the generation of entangled-photon states [2], which may be exploited for super-resolution imaging below the Rayleigh limit [3], and super-sensitive remote sensing below the shot-noise limit [4]. We have recently clarified the relationship between linear optics with projective measurements, the workhorse of linear optical quantum information processing, and more usual science of nonlinear optics [5]. We do this by quantifying just ...
ABSTRACT One of the best signatures of nonclassicality in a quantum system is the existence of co... more ABSTRACT One of the best signatures of nonclassicality in a quantum system is the existence of correlations that have no classical counterpart. Different methods for quantifying the quantum and classical parts of the correlations are amongst the most actively-studied topics of quantum information theory in the past decade. Entanglement is the most prominent of these correlations, but in many cases unentangled states exhibit nonclassi-cal behavior. Thus distinguishing quantum correlation other than entanglement provides a better division between the quantum and classical worlds, especially when considering mixed states. Here we review different notions of classical and quantum correlations quantified by quantum discord and other related measures. In the first half we review the mathematical properties of the measures of quantum correlation, relate them to each other, and discuss the classical-quantum division that is common among them. In the second half, we show that the measures quantum correlation identify and quantify the deviation from classicality in various quantum information-processing tasks, quan-tum thermodynamics, open-system dynamics, and many-body physics. We show that in many cases quantum correlations indicate an advantage of quantum methods over classical ones.
Quantum metrology research promises approaches to build new sensors that achieve the ultimate lev... more Quantum metrology research promises approaches to build new sensors that achieve the ultimate level of precision measurement and perform fundamentally better than modern sensors. Practical schemes that tolerate realistic fabrication imperfections and environmental noise are required in order to realise quantum-enhanced sensors and to enable their real-world application. We have demonstrated the key enabling principles of a practical, loss-tolerant approach to photonic quantum metrology designed to harness all multi-photon components in spontaneous parametric downconversion---a method for generating multiple photons that we show requires no further fundamental state engineering for use in practical quantum metrology. We observe a quantum advantage of 28% in precision measurement of optical phase using the four-photon detection component of this scheme, despite 83% system loss. This opens the way to new quantum sensors based on current quantum-optical capabilities.
We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for ... more We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for precision measurement. The symmetry of these bipartite quantum states, even under losses, suggests that monitoring correlations between the divergent beams permits a high-precision inference of any symmetry-breaking effect, e.g. fiber birefringence. We show that the quantity of entanglement is not the key feature for such an instrument. In a lossless setting, scaling of precision at the ultimate `Heisenberg' limit is possible with photon counting alone. Even as photon losses approach 100% the precision is shot-noise limited, and we identify the crossover point between quantum and classical precision as a function of detected flux. The predicted hypersensitivity is demonstrated with a Bayesian simulation.
We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for ... more We explore the advantages offered by twin light beams produced in parametric down-conversion for precision measurement. The symmetry of these bipartite quantum states, even under losses, suggests that monitoring correlations between the divergent beams permits a high-precision inference of any symmetry-breaking effect, e.g., fiber birefringence. We show that the quantity of entanglement is not the key feature for such an instrument. In a lossless setting, scaling of precision at the ultimate ``Heisenberg'' limit is possible with photon counting alone. Even as photon losses approach 100% the precision is shot-noise limited, and we identify the crossover point between quantum and classical precision as a function of detected flux. The predicted hypersensitivity is demonstrated with a Bayesian simulation.
A fundamental task in photonics is to characterise an unknown optical process, defined by propert... more A fundamental task in photonics is to characterise an unknown optical process, defined by properties such as birefringence, spectral response, thickness and flatness. Amongst many ways to achieve this, single-photon probes can be used in a method called quantum process tomography (QPT). Furthermore, QPT is an essential method in determining how a process acts on quantum mechanical states. For example for quantum technology, QPT is used to characterise multi-qubit processors and quantum communication channels; across quantum physics QPT of some form is often the first experimental investigation of a new physical process, as shown in the recent research into coherent transport in biological mechanisms. However, the precision of QPT is limited by the fact that measurements with single-particle probes are subject to unavoidable shot noise---this holds for both single photon and laser probes. In situations where measurement resources are limited, for example, where the process is rapidly changing or the time bandwidth is constrained, it becomes essential to overcome this precision limit. Here we devise and demonstrate a scheme for tomography which exploits non-classical input states and quantum interferences; unlike previous QPT methods our scheme capitalises upon the possibility to use simultaneously multiple photons per mode. The efficiency---quantified by precision per photon used---scales with larger photon number input states. Our demonstration uses four-photon states and our results show a substantial reduction of statistical fluctuations compared to traditional QPT methods---in the ideal case one four-photon probe state yields the same amount of statistical information as twelve single probe photons.
It is commonly believed that decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum information processing. ... more It is commonly believed that decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum information processing. In contrast to this, we show how decoherence in the form of dissipation can improve the performance of certain quantum gates. As an example we consider the realisations of a controlled phase gate and a two-qubit SWAP operation with the help of a single laser pulse
We analyze the effects of quantum correlations, like entanglement and discord, on the efficiency ... more We analyze the effects of quantum correlations, like entanglement and discord, on the efficiency of phase estimation by studying four experimentally-feasible setups. In addition to the standard resource assumption of space (number of qubits) and time (number of gates) requirements we introduce mixedness as a constraint of the experiment. We compare the efficiency of the four strategies, each optimized within a correlation-class, as a function of mixedness. We find that the optimal quantum strategy gives a quadratic enhancement over the standard strategy for the same amount of mixedness. This results apply even for highly-mixed states that have nonclassical correlations but no entanglement.
We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as \emph{dete... more We construct a model of quantum metrology inspired by the computational model known as \emph{deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit} (DQC1). Using only one pure qubit together with $l$ fully-mixed qubits we obtain measurement precision at the standard quantum limit, which is typically obtained using the same number of uncorrelated qubits in fully-pure states. The standard quantum limit can be exceeded using an additional qubit which adds only a small amount of purity. We show that the discord in the final state vanishes only in the limit of attaining infinite precision for the parameter being estimated.
A novel scheme for unitary quantum process tomography (QPT) is theoretically presented and implem... more A novel scheme for unitary quantum process tomography (QPT) is theoretically presented and implemented experimentally. Multi-photon input states are used to obtain quantum-enhanced precision for the unitary estimation. Our results are compared to standard QPT.
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Papers by Hugo Cable