AI 中文总结
本研究提出并演示半样品插入式HOM干涉仪，通过不对称光子-样品相互作用提升费舍尔信息五个数量级，实现光程差高精度测量，为透明材料量子增强厚度测量及量子器件性能提升提供新策略。
AI 中文摘要
量子技术被广泛认为是超高精度计量学的前所未有机遇。作为现代量子光学的著名实例，Hong-Ou-Mandel（HOM）干涉仪以实现阿秒级时间分辨率而闻名。然而，普通HOM测量中每次试验的费舍尔信息相对较低，通常需要数万次重复才能达到该精度。在此，我们提出并演示了一种半样品插入式HOM（SHOM）干涉仪，其在单次干涉事件中将费舍尔信息提高了五个数量级。通过引入不对称光子-样品相互作用，SHOM结构产生了独特的“下降-上升-下降”干涉结构，将先前被视为伪影的现象转化为有用的计量资源。实验中，我们使用约10^7个光子，测得光程差的平均精度为4.09 nm（13.63 as），平均准确度为1.22 nm（4.07 as）。我们的结果确立了SHOM干涉术作为一种高效的相位不敏感方法，不仅为透明材料的实用量子增强厚度测量铺平了道路，还为提高各种量子器件的性能提供了巧妙策略。
英文摘要
Quantum technologies have been widely recognized as unprecedented opportunities for ultra-high precision metrology. As a celebrated example in modern quantum optics, the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometer is well-known for enabling temporal resolutions on the attosecond scale. However, the relatively low Fisher information per trial in ordinary HOM measurements typically necessitates tens of thousands of repetitions to achieve such precision. Here, we propose and demonstrate a sample-half-inserted HOM (SHOM) interferometer, which enhances the Fisher information by five orders of magnitude in a single interference event. By introducing an asymmetric photon-sample interaction, the SHOM configuration produces a distinctive dip-bump-dip interference structure, converting what was previously viewed as an artifact into a helpful metrological resource. Experimentally, we measured the optical path difference with an average precision of 4.09 nm (13.63 as) and an average accuracy of 1.22 nm (4.07 as) using $O(10^7)$ photons. Our results establish SHOM interferometry as an efficient phase-insensitive approach, not only paving the way toward practical quantum-enhanced thickness measurement for transparent materials, but also serving as an elegant strategy to improve the performance of various quantum devices.
Comments7 pages, 3 figures
Journal refPhysical Review Letters 135, 240201 (2025)
