PhD Thesis, 117 pages, 4 figures. Contains an elementary introduction to quantum measurement theory, entanglement and non-locality, a simple introduction to stochastic calculus, and a detailed introduction to the input-output formulation of noise in optical cavities
In this thesis we consider primarily the dynamics of quantum systems subjected to continuous observation. In the Schrödinger picture the evolution of a continuously monitored quantum system, referred to as a `quantum trajectory', may be described by a stochastic equation for the state vector. We present a method of deriving explicit evolution operators for linear quantum trajectories, and apply this to a number of physical examples of varying mathematical complexity.
In the Heisenberg picture evolution resulting from continuous observation may be described by quantum Langevin equations. We use this method to examine the noise spectrum that results from a continuous observation of the position of a moving mirror, and examine the possibility of detecting the noise resulting from the quantum back-action of the measurement.
In addition to the work on continuous measurement theory, we also consider the problem of reconstructing the state of a quantum system from a set of measurements. We present a scheme for determining the state of a single cavity mode from the photon statistics measured both before and after an interaction with one or two two-level atoms.
Information-theoretic definitions for the noise associated with a quantum measurement and the corresponding disturbance to the state of the system have recently been introduced [F. Buscemi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 050401 (2014)]. These definitions are invariant under relabelling of measurement outcomes, and lend themselves readily to the formulation of state-independent uncertainty relations both for the joint estimate of observables (noise-noise relations) and the noise-disturbance tradeoff. Here we derive such relations for incompatible qubit observables, which we prove to be tight in t…
The purpose of this paper is to survey some topics on mathematical foundations of quantum information developed mainly by the present author and co-workers for the last three decades. The topics include an axiomatic construction of quantum measurement theory based on completely positive map-valued measures, a universally valid new formulation of the uncertainty principle for error and disturbance in quantum measurements, the Wigner-Araki-Yanase limit of quantum measurements, the accuracy limit of quantum computing based on conservation laws, and a quantum interpretation based on quantum set th…
We give an elementary account of quantum measurement and related topics from the modern perspective of decoherence. The discussion should be comprehensible to students who have completed a basic course in quantum mechanics with exposure to concepts such as Hilbert space, density matrices, and von Neumann projection (``wavefunction collapse'').
Photon-number squeezing and correlations enable measurement of absorption with an accuracy exceeding that of the shot-noise limit. However, sub-shot noise imaging and sensing based on these methods require high detection efficiency, which can be a serious obstacle if measurements are carried out in "difficult" spectral ranges. We show that this problem can be overcome through the phase-sensitive amplification before detection. Here we propose an experimental scheme of sub-shot-noise imaging with tolerance to detection losses.
Quantum-dense metrology (QDM) constitutes a special case of quantum metrology in which two orthogonal phase space projections of a signal are simultaneously sensed beyond the shot noise limit. Previously it was shown that the additional sensing channel that is provided by QDM contains information that can be used to identify and to discard corrupted segments from the measurement data. Here, we demonstrate a proof-of-principle experiment in which this information is used for improving the sensitivity without discarding any measurement segments. Our measurement reached sub-shot-noise performance…
Information-theoretic definitions for noise and disturbance in quantum measurements were given in Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 050401 (2014) and a state-independent noise-disturbance uncertainty relation was obtained. Here, we derive a tight noise-disturbance uncertainty relation for complementary qubit observables and carry out an experimental test. Successive projective measurements on the neutron's spin-1/2system, together with a correction procedure which reduces the disturbance, are performed. Our experimental results saturate the tight noise-disturbance uncertainty relation for qubits when an o…
Inspired by the notion that environmental noise is in principle observable, whilst fundamental noise due to spontaneous localisation would not be, we study the estimation of the diffusion parameter induced by wave function collapse models under continuous monitoring of the environment. We take into account finite measurement efficiencies and, in order to quantify the advantage granted by monitoring, we analyse the quantum Fisher information associated with such a diffusion parameter, identify optimal measurements in limiting cases, and assess the performance of such measurements in more realis…
Localized spins in the solid state are attracting widespread attention as highly sensitive quantum sensors with nanoscale spatial resolution and fascinating applications. Recently, adaptive measurements were used to improve the dynamic range for spin-based sensing of deterministic Hamiltonian parameters. Here we explore a very different direction -- spin-based adaptive sensing of random noises. First, we identify distinguishing features for the sensing of magnetic noises compared with the estimation of deterministic magnetic fields, such as the different dependences on the spin decoherence, th…
Quantum discord is a measure of non-classical correlations, which are excess correlations inherent in quantum states that cannot be accessed by classical measurements. For multipartite states, the classically accessible correlations can be defined by the mutual information of the multipartite measurement outcomes. In general the quantum discord of an arbitrary quantum state involves an optimisation of over the classical measurements which is hard to compute. In this paper, we examine the quantum discord in the experimentally relevant case when the quantum states are Gaussian and the measuremen…
Thermal noise limitations to force measurements with torsion pendulums: Applications to the measurement of the Casimir force and its thermal correction
Information-theoretic uncertainty relations formulate the joint immeasurability of two non-commuting observables in terms of information entropies. The trade-off of the accuracy in the outcome of two successive measurements manifests in entropic noise-disturbance uncertainty relations. Recent theoretical analysis predicts that projective measurements are not optimal, with respect to the noise-disturbance trade-offs. Therefore the results in our previous letter [PRL 115, 030401 (2015)] are outperformed by general quantum measurements. Here, we experimentally test a tight information-theoretic m…
Spin counting via projection noise measurement of mesoscopic solid-state spin ensemble
ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, Boulder（美国科罗拉多大学博尔德分校与美国国家标准与技术研究院联合成立的JILA实验室）
We design and demonstrate a resonant-type differential photodetector for low-noise quantum homodyne measurement at 500MHz optical sideband with 17MHz of bandwidth. By using a microwave monolithic amplifier and a discrete voltage buffer circuit, a low-noise voltage amplifier is realized and applied to our detector. 12dB of signal-to-noise ratio of the shot noise to the electric noise is obtained with 5mW of continuous-wave local oscillator. We analyze the frequency response and the noise characteristics of a resonant photodetector, and the theoretical model agrees with the shot noise measuremen…
We show theoretically how a correlation of multiple measurements on a qubit undergoing pure dephasing can be expressed as environmental noise filtering. The measurement of such correlations can be used for environmental noise spectroscopy, and the family of noise filters achievable in such a setting is broader than the one achievable with a standard approach, in which dynamical decoupling sequences are used. We illustrate the advantages of this approach by considering the case of noise spectrum with sharp features at very low frequencies. We also show how appropriately chosen correlations of a…
Towards Robust Optimal Measurements Against Noise in Quantum Metrology
School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University（宁波大学物理科学与技术学院）；Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学机械与自动化工程学系）；National Key Laboratory of Scattering and Radiation（散射与辐射国家重点实验室）；Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw（华沙大学物理学院）；Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学合肥国家实验室）；CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学量子信息重点实验室）；CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学量子信息与量子物理学卓越创新中心）
We examine the effect of different sources of technical noise on inverse weak value-based precision phase measurements. We find that this type of measurement is similarly robust to technical noise as related experiments in the weak value regime. In particular, the measurements considered here are robust to additive Gaussian white noise and angular jitter noise commonly encountered in optical experiments. Additionally, we show the same techniques used for precision phase measurement can be used with the same technical advantages for optical frequency measurements.
In fundamental papers from 1962 [1, 2], Heffener and Haus showed that it is not possible to construct a linear noiseless amplifier. The implies that the amplifier intrinsic noise sources induce random perturbations on the phase of the incoming optical signal which translates into spectral broadening. To achieve the minimum (quantum noise limited) induced phase fluctuation, and the corresponding minimum spectral broadening, an optimum phase measurement method is needed. We demonstrate that a measurement method based on the heterodyne detection and the extended Kalman filtering approaches an opt…
The influence of outside quantum noises on the amplification of weak measurements is investigated. Three typical quantum noises are discussed. The maximum values of the pointer's shifts decrease sharply with the strength of the depolarizing channel and phase damping. In order to obtain significant amplified signals, the preselection quantum systems must be kept away from the two quantum noises. Interestingly, the amplification effect is immune to the amplitude damping noise.
