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 have introduced a measure of Gaussian quantum correlations based on quantum Fisher information. For bipartite Gaussian states the minimum quantum Fisher information due to local unitary evolution on one of the parties reliably quantifies quantum correlation. In quantum metrology the proposed measure becomes the tool to investigate the role of quantum orrelation in setting metrological precision. In particular, a deeper insights can be gained on how quantum correlations are instrumental to enhance metrological precision. Our analysis demonstrates that not only entanglement but also quantum c…
Quantum Fisher information is a central quantity in quantum metrology. We discuss an alternative representation of quantum Fisher information for unitary parametrization processes. The highlight of this representation is that all information of parametrization transformation, i.e., the entire dynamical information, is totally involved in a Hermitian operator H. Utilizing this representation, quantum Fisher information is only determined by H and the initial state. We apply this representation in a collective spin system and show the specific expression of H. For a simple case, a spin-half syst…
We apply the classical data processing inequality to quantum metrology to show that manipulating the classical information from a quantum measurement cannot aid in the estimation of parameters encoded in quantum states. We further derive a quantum data processing inequality to show that coherent manipulation of quantum data also cannot improve the precision in estimation. In addition, we comment on the assumptions necessary to arrive at these inequalities and how they might be avoided providing insights into enhancement procedures which are not provably wrong.
We prove an extended convexity for quantum Fisher information of a mixed state with a given convex decomposition. This convexity introduces a bound which has two parts: i. classical part associated to the Fisher information of the probability distribution of the states contributing to the decomposition, and ii. quantum part given by the average quantum Fisher information of the states in this decomposition. Next we use a non-Hermitian extension of symmetric logarithmic derivative in order to obtain another upper bound on quantum Fisher information, which enables to derive a closed form for a f…
We introduce a positive Hermitian operator, the Fisher operator, and use it to examine a measurement process incorporating unitary dynamics and complete measurements. We develop the idea of information complement, the minimization of which establishes the optimal precision for a fixed input. The formalism demonstrates that, in general, the classical Fisher Information has the Hamiltonian semi-norm as an upper bound. This is achievable with a qubit probe and only projective measurements, and is independent of the true value of the estimated parameter. In an interferometry context, we show that …
Enhancing Quantum Metrology with High-order Fisher Information and Experiments
School of Information Science and Technology, Southwest Jiaotong University（西南交通大学信息科学与技术学院）；School of Mathematical Sciences, Capital Normal University（首都师范大学数学科学学院）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）
Quantum metrology comprises a set of techniques and protocols that utilize quantum features for parameter estimation which can in principle outperform any procedure based on classical physics. We formulate the quantum metrology in terms of an optimal control problem and apply Pontryagin's Maximum Principle to determine the optimal protocol that maximizes the quantum Fisher information for a given evolution time. As the quantum Fisher information involves a derivative with respect to the parameter which one wants to estimate, we devise an augmented dynamical system that explicitly includes grad…
In its simplest form, decoherence occurs when a quantum state is entangled with a second state, but the results of measurements made on the second state are not accessible. As the second state has effectively "measured" the first, in this paper we argue that the quantum Fisher information is the relevant metric for predicting and quantifying this kind of decoherence. The quantum Fisher information is usually used to determine an upper bound on how precisely measurements on a state can be used to estimate a classical parameter, and as such it is an important resource. Quantum enhanced metrology…
Quantum metrology has been studied for a wide range of systems with time-independent Hamiltonians. For systems with time-dependent Hamiltonians, however, due to the complexity of dynamics, little has been known about quantum metrology. Here we investigate quantum metrology with time-dependent Hamiltonians to bridge this gap. We obtain the optimal quantum Fisher information for parameters in time-dependent Hamiltonians, and show proper Hamiltonian control is necessary to optimize the Fisher information. We derive the optimal Hamiltonian control, which is generally adaptive, and the measurement …
In order to provide a guaranteed precision and a more accurate judgement about the true value of the Cramér-Rao bound and its scaling behavior, an upper bound (equivalently a lower bound on the quantum Fisher information) for precision of estimation is introduced. Unlike the bounds previously introduced in the literature, the upper bound is saturable and yields a practical instruction to estimate the parameter through preparing the optimal initial state and optimal measurement. The bound is based on the underling dynamics and its calculation is straightforward and requires only the matrix repr…
Quantum metrology concerns estimating a parameter from multiple identical uses of a quantum channel. We extend quantum metrology beyond this standard setting and consider estimation of a physical process with quantum memory, here referred to as a parametrized quantum comb. We present a theoretic framework of metrology of quantum combs, and derive a general upper bound of the comb quantum Fisher information. The bound can be operationally interpreted as the quantum Fisher information of a memoryless quantum channel times a dimensional factor. We then show an example where the bound can be attai…
Quantum metrology is a rapidly developing branch of quantum technologies. While various theories have been established on quantum metrology for Markovian processes, i.e., quantum channel estimation, quantum metrology for non-Markovian processes is much less explored. In this Letter, we establish a general framework of non-Markovian quantum metrology. For any parametrized non-Markovian process on a finite-dimensional system, we derive a formula for the maximal amount of quantum Fisher information that can be extracted from it by an optimally controlled probe state. In addition, we design an alg…
Relativistic quantum metrology studies the maximal achievable precision for estimating a physical quantity when both quantum and relativistic effects are taken into account. We study the relativistic quantum metrology of temperature in (3+1)-dimensional de Sitter and anti-de Sitter space. Using Unruh-DeWitt detectors coupled to a massless scalar field as probes and treating them as open quantum systems, we compute the Fisher information for estimating temperature. We investigate the effect of acceleration in dS, and the effect of boundary condition in AdS. We find that the phenomenology of the…
In multiparameter quantum metrology, the weighted-arithmetic-mean error of estimation is often used as a scalar cost function to be minimized during design optimization. However, other types of mean error can reveal different facets of permissible error combination. By introducing the weighted $f$-mean of estimation error and quantum Fisher information, we derive various quantum Cramér-Rao bounds on mean error in a very general form and also give their refined versions with complex quantum Fisher information matrices. We show that the geometric- and harmonic-mean quantum Cramér-Rao bounds can …
Recently, we find a physical limit on energy consumption of quantum metrology, and demonstrate that it essentially arises from the erasure of quantum Fisher information (QFI) which determines the best achievable measurement precision. Here, we provide more details in order to further elaborate the essence of this principle.
The dynamics of the quantum Fisher information of the parameters of the initial atomic state and atomic transition frequency is studied, in the framework of open quantum systems, for a static polarizable two-level atom coupled in the multipolar scheme to a bath of fluctuating vacuum electromagnetic fields without and with the presence of a reflecting boundary. Our results show that in the case without a boundary, the electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations always cause the quantum Fisher information of the initial parameters and thus the precision limit of parameter estimation to decrease. Remarka…
We carefully examine critical metrology and present an improved critical quantum metrology protocol which relies on quenching a system exhibiting a superradiant quantum phase transition beyond its critical point. We show that this approach can lead to an exponential increase of the quantum Fisher information in time with respect to existing critical quantum metrology protocols relying on quenching close to the critical point and observing power law behaviour. We demonstrate that the Cramér-Rao bound can be saturated in our protocol through the standard homodyne detection scheme. We explicitly …
In this study, we apply quantum master equations beyond secular approximation, and investigate the nonequilibrium thermodynamic cost of enhanced quantum metrology and quantum correlations. We find that the nonequilibrium conditions enhance quantum Fisher information (QFI) and quantum correlations predominantly for weak tunneling scenarios. The enhancement is assisted by a corresponding increase of the thermodynamic cost characterized by the entropy production rate (EPR). For the strong tunneling regimes, the QFI and quantum correlations can not be unceasingly boosted by higher thermodynamic co…
Quantum Fisher information matrix (QFIM) is a core concept in theoretical quantum metrology due to the significant importance of quantum Cramér-Rao bound in quantum parameter estimation. However, studies in recent years have revealed wide connections between QFIM and other aspects of quantum mechanics, including quantum thermodynamics, quantum phase transition, entanglement witness, quantum speed limit and non-Markovianity. These connections indicate that QFIM is more than a concept in quantum metrology, but rather a fundamental quantity in quantum mechanics. In this paper, we summarize the pr…
We study quantum metrology for unitary dynamics. Analytic solutions are given for both the optimal unitary state preparation starting from an arbitrary mixed state and the corresponding optimal measurement precision. This represents a rigorous generalization of known results for optimal initial states and upper bounds on measurement precision which can only be saturated if pure states are available. In particular, we provide a generalization to mixed states of an upper bound on measurement precision for time-dependent Hamiltonians that can be saturated with optimal Hamiltonian control. These r…
Quantum metrology makes use of quantum mechanics to improve precision measurements and measurement sensitivities. It is usually formulated for time-independent Hamiltonians but time-dependent Hamiltonians may offer advantages, such as a $T^4$ time dependence of the Fisher information which cannot be reached with a time-independent Hamiltonian. In Optimal adaptive control for quantum metrology with time-dependent Hamiltonians (Nature Communications 8, 2017), Shengshi Pang and Andrew N. Jordan put forward a Shortcut-to-adiabaticity (STA)-like method, specifically an approach formally similar to …
We show that postselection offers a nonclassical advantage in metrology. In every parameter-estimation experiment, the final measurement or the postprocessing incurs some cost. Postselection can improve the rate of Fisher information (the average information learned about an unknown parameter from an experimental trial) to cost. This improvement, we show, stems from the negativity of a quasiprobability distribution, a quantum extension of a probability distribution. In a classical theory, in which all observables commute, our quasiprobability distribution can be expressed as real and nonnegati…
We address the scattering of a quantum particle by a one-dimensional barrier potential over a set of discrete positions. We formalize the problem as a continuous-time quantum walk on a lattice with an impurity, and use the quantum Fisher information as a mean to quantify the maximal possible accuracy in the estimation of the height of the barrier. We introduce suitable initial states of the walker and derive the reflection and transmission probabilities of the scattered state. We show that while the quantum Fisher information is affected by the width and central momentum of the initial wave pa…
We examine whether metrological resolution beyond coherent states is a nonclassical effect. We show that this is true for linear detection schemes but false for nonlinear schemes, and propose a very simple experimental setup to test it. We find a nonclassicality criterion derived from quantum Fisher information.
Optimal control theory, also known as Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, is applied to the quantum parameter estimation in the presence of decoherence. An efficient procedure is devised to compute the gradient of quantum Fisher information with respect to the control parameters and is used to construct the optimal control protocol. The proposed procedure keeps the control problem in the time-invariant form so that both first-order and second-order optimality conditions derived from Pontryagin's Maximum Principle apply; the second-order condition turns out to be crucial when the optimal control co…
Quantum metrology utilizes quantum effects to reach higher precision measurements of physical quantities compared with their classical counterparts. However the ubiquitous decoherence obstructs its application. Recently, non-Markovian effects are shown to be effective in performing quantum optical metrology under locally dissipative environments\cite{PhysRevLett.123.040402}. However, the mechanism is still rather hazy. Here, we uncover the reason why forming a bound state can protect the quantumness against a dissipative ambient via the quantum Fisher information of entangled coherent states. …
The fidelity function of quantum states have been widely used in quantum information science and frequently arises in the quantification of optimal performances for the estimation and distinguish of quantum states. A fidelity function on quantum channel is expected to have same wide applications in quantum information science. In this paper we propose a fidelity function on quantum channels and show that various distance measures on quantum channels can be obtained from this fidelity function, for example the Bures angle and the Bures distance can be extended to quantum channels via this fidel…
The quantum Fisher information (QFI) in SU(2) and SU(1,1) interferometers was considered, and the QFI-only calculation was overestimated. In general, the phase estimation as a two-parameter estimation problem, and the quantum Fisher information matrix (QFIM) is necessary. In this paper, we theoretically generalize the model developed by Escher et al [Nature Physics 7, 406 (2011)] to the QFIM case with noise and study the ultimate precision limits of SU(2) and SU(1,1) interferometers with photon losses because photon losses as a very usual noise may happen to the phase measurement process. Usin…
A usual assumption in quantum estimation is that the unknown parameter labels the possible states of the system, while it influences neither the sample space of outcomes nor the measurement aimed at extracting information on the parameter itself. This assumption is crucial to prove the quantum Cramér-Rao theorem and to introduce the quantum Fisher information as an upper bound to the Fisher information of any possible measurement. However, there are relevant estimation problems where this assumption does not hold and an alternative approach should be developed to find the genuine ultimate boun…
We address the relation between quantum metrological resolution and coherence. We examine this dependence in two manners: we develop a quantum Wiener-Kintchine theorem for a suitable model of quantum ruler, and we compute the Fisher information. The two methods have the virtue of including both the contributions of probe and measurement on an equal footing. We illustrate this approach with several examples of linear and nonlinear metrology. Finally, we optimize resolution regarding coherence as a finite resource.
In quantum metrology, quantum probe states are capable of estimating unknown physical parameters to precisions beyond classical limits. What qualities do such states possess? Here we relate the performance of a probe state at estimating a parameter $ϕ$ -- as quantified by the quantum Fisher information -- to the amount of purity it loses when $ϕ$ undergoes statistical fluctuation. This indicates that the better a state is for estimating $ϕ$, the more it decoheres when $ϕ$ is subject to noise.
We address open quantum systems out-of-equilibrium as effective quantum probes for the characterisation of their environment. We discuss estimation schemes for parameters driving a de-phasing evolution of the probe and then focus on qubits, establishing a relationship between the quantum Fisher information and the residual coherence of the probe. Finally, we apply our results to the characterisation of the ohmicity parameter of a bosonic environment.
In probabilistic quantum metrology, one aims at finding weak measurements that concentrate the Fisher Information on the resulting quantum states, post-selected according to the weak outcomes. Though the Quantum Cramér-Rao bound itself cannot be overshot this way, it could be possible to improve the information-cost ratio, or even the total Fisher Information. We propose a post-selection protocol achieving this goal based on single-photon subtraction onto a thermal state of radiation yielding a greater information-cost ratio for the temperature parameter with respect to the standard strategy r…
We examine a family of intrinsic performance measures in terms of probability distributions that generalize Hellinger distance and Fisher information. They are applied to quantum metrology to assess the uncertainty in the detection of minute changes of physical quantities. We show that different measures lead to contradictory conclusions, including the possibility of arbitrarily small uncertainty for fixed resources. These intrinsic performances are compared with the averaged error in the corresponding estimation problem after single-shot measurements.
Quantum metrology is studied in the presence of quantum correlation. The quantum correlation measure based on quantum Fisher information enables us to gain a deeper insight on how quantum correlations are instrumental in setting metrological precision. Our analysis shows that not only the entanglement but also the quantum correlation plays important roles to enhance precision in quantum metrology. Even in the absence of entanglement, quantum correlation can be exploited as the resource to beat standard quantum limit and reach Heisenberg limit in metrology. Clearly unraveling the role of quantu…
We investigate quantum metrology using a Lie algebraic approach for a class of Hamiltonians, including local and nearest-neighbor interaction Hamiltonians. Using this Lie algebraic formulation, we identify and construct highly symmetric states that admit Heisenberg scaling in precision in the absence of noise, and investigate their performance in the presence of noise. To this aim we perform a numerical scaling analysis, and derive upper bounds on the quantum Fisher information.
In conventional measurement, to reach the greatest accuracy of parameter estimation, all samples must be measured since each independent sample contains the same quantum Fisher information. In postselected metrology, postselection can concentrate the quantum Fisher information of the initial samples into a tiny post-selected sub-ensemble. It has been proven that this quantum advantage can not be realized in any classically commuting theory. In this work, we present that the advantage of postselection in weak value amplification (WVA) can not be achieved without quantum coherence. The quantum c…
We show that the quantum Fisher information attained in an adiabatic approach to critical quantum metrology cannot lead to the Heisenberg limit of precision and therefore regular quantum metrology under optimal settings is always superior. Furthermore, we argue that even though shortcuts to adiabaticity can arbitrarily decrease the time of preparing critical ground states, they cannot be used to achieve or overcome the Heisenberg limit for quantum parameter estimation in adiabatic critical quantum metrology. As case studies, we explore the application of counter-diabatic driving to the Landau-…
We study very generally to what extent the uncertainty with which a phase shift can be estimated in quantum metrology can be reduced by extending the Hamiltonian that generates the phase shift to an ancilla system with a Hilbert space of arbitrary dimension, and allowing arbitrary interactions between the original system and the ancilla. Such Hamiltonian extensions provide a general framework for open quantum systems, as well as for "non-linear metrology schemes" that have been investigated over the last few years. We prove that such Hamiltonian extensions cannot improve the sensitivity of the…
We study the classical and quantum Fisher information for the Lieb-Liniger model. The Fisher information has been studied extensively when the parameter is inscribed on a quantum state by a unitary process, e.g., Mach-Zehnder or Ramsey interferometry. Here, we investigate the case that a Hamiltonian parameter to be estimated is imprinted on eigenstates of that Hamiltonian, and thus is not necessarily encoded by a unitary operator. Taking advantage of the fact that the Lieb-Liniger model is exactly solvable, the Fisher information is determined for periodic and hard-wall boundary conditions, va…
Experimentally achieving the precision that standard quantum metrology schemes promise is always challenging. Recently, additional controls were applied to design feasible quantum metrology schemes. However, these approaches generally does not consider ease of implementation, raising technological barriers impeding its realization. In this paper, we circumvent this problem by applying closed-loop learning control to propose a practical controlled sequential scheme for quantum metrology. Purity loss of the probe state, which relates to quantum Fisher information, is measured efficiently as the …
Quantum metrology enhances the sensitivity of parameter estimation using the distinctive resources of quantum mechanics such as entanglement. It has been shown that the precision of estimating an overall multiplicative factor of a Hamiltonian can be increased to exceed the classical limit, yet little is known about estimating a general Hamiltonian parameter. In this paper, we study this problem in detail. We find that the scaling of the estimation precision with the number of systems can always be optimized to the Heisenberg limit, while the time scaling can be quite different from that of est…
We derive explicit expressions for the quantum Fisher information and the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD) of a quantum state in the exponential form; the SLD is expressed in terms of the generator. Applications include quantum-metrology problems with Gaussian states and general thermal states. Specifically, we give the SLD for a Gaussian state in two forms, in terms of its generator and its moments; the Fisher information is also calculated for both forms. Special cases are discussed, including pure, degenerate, and very noisy Gaussian states.
We investigate an optimal distance of two components in an entangled coherent state for quantum phase estimation in lossy interferometry. The optimal distance is obtained by an economical point, representing the quantum Fisher information that we can extract per input energy. Maximizing the formula of the quantum Fisher information over an input mean photon number, we show that, as the losses of the interferometer increase, it can be more beneficial to prepare an initially entangled coherent state that is less entangled. This represents that the optimal distance of the two-mode components decr…
