Quantum metrology:

dynamics vs. entanglement

I. Introduction
II. Ramsey interferometry and cat states
III. Quantum and classical resources
IV. Quantum information perspective
V. Beyond the Heisenberg limit
VI. Two-component BECs

Metrology
Taking the measure of things
The heart of physics
New physics

Quantum mechanics as
liberator.
Explore what can be
done with quantum
systems, instead of
being satisfied with
what Nature hands us.
Quantum engineering

Old physics

Quantum
mechanics as nag.
The uncertainty
principle
restricts what can
be done.

Old conflict in new guise

Making quantum limits relevant

The serial resource, T, and

the parallel resource, N, are
equivalent and
interchangeable,
mathematically.

The serial resource, T, and

the parallel resource, N, are
not equivalent and not
interchangeable, physically.

Information science
perspective

Physics perspective

Platform independence

Distinctions between different

physical systems

Working on T and N

H er e is som et hing.

Laser Interferometer
Gravitational Observatory (LIGO)
Advanced LIGO

B. L. Higgins, D. W. Berry, S. D. Bartlett, M. W. Mitchell, H. M. Wiseman,

and G. J. Pryde, Heisenberg-limited phase estimation without
entanglement or adaptive measurements, arXiv:0809.3308 [quant-ph].

High-power, FabryPerot cavity

(multipass), recycling,
squeezed-state (?)
interferometers

Livingston, Louisiana
Hanford, Washington

Making quantum limits relevant. One metrology story

A. Shaji and C. M. Caves, PRA 76, 032111 (2007).

Cat-state
interferometer

State
preparation

Singleparameter
estimation

Measurement

Heisenberg limit

S. L. Braunstein, C. M. Caves, and G. J. Milburn, Ann. Phys. 247, 135 (1996).

V. Giovannetti, S. Lloyd, and L. Maccone, PRL 96, 041401 (2006).

Separable inputs

Generalized
uncertainty principle
(Cramr-Rao bound)

Achieving the Heisenberg limit

cat
state

Beyond the Heisenberg limit

The purpose of theorems in
physics is to lay out the
assumptions clearly so one
can discover which
assumptions have to be
violated.

Improving the scaling with N

without entanglement

S. Boixo, A. Datta, S. T. Flammia, A. Shaji, E.

Bagan, and C. M. Caves, PRA 77, 012317 (2008).

Product
input

Product
measurement

Two-component BECs

Renormalization of scattering strength

Lets start over.

One metrology story

One metrology story

Using quantum circuit diagrams

Cat-state
interferometer

Cat-state
interferometer
C. M. Caves and A. Shaji, Quantum-circuit guide to optical and atomic
interferometry,'' Opt. Comm., to be published, arXiv:0909.0803 [quant-ph].

Conclusion
In conclusion, we discussed the impact of spatial noise correlations on quantum
metrology and the persistence of Heisenberg scaling in the presence of such noise. We
considered ion traps as one specific example since previous experimental evidence
suggests that their environmental noise is spatially correlated with purely positive
correlations. We showed that non-zero spatial correlation length fundamentally changes
the decoherence of entangled states. In such environments, a topology dependence
emerges so that the order in which the ions are placed in the array changes their
decoherence properties. After optimization in this regard, the entangled states designed
to measure the electric quadrupole moment have an approximately constant dephasing
rate with increasing number of ions n. Precision frequency measurements with these
initial states therefore show Heisenberg scaling of the uncertainty with the numbers of
ions n. Besides providing a prescription to achieve Heisenberg-scaled resolution in
linear ion traps subject to partially correlated noise, our results illustrate the fundamental
role of noise correlations in precision spectroscopy. While local Markovian noise
eliminates quantum advantage, this is restored when the noise displays a spatial
structure. Heisenberg resolution becomes then attainable by means of suitable state
preparation whose decoherence rate decreases inversely with so that the evolution is
decoherence-free in the limit of infinite correlation length (global noise).