Quantum Metrology with Coherent Superposition of Two Different Coded Channels

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that coherent superposition of different quantum channels can surpass traditional limits in quantum metrology, achieving higher precision without indefinite causal order, and offers analytical insights into optimizing measurement accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum metrology strategy using coherent superposition of channels that outperforms existing methods and provides analytical formulas for estimation precision.

Findings

Heisenberg limit $1/N$ can be beaten by coherent superposition

Nonlinear Hamiltonian improves estimation precision to $1/N^m$ for $m extgreater=2

Strategy outperforms quantum switch in parameter estimation

Abstract

We investigate the advantage of coherent superposition of two different coded channels in quantum metrology. In a continuous variable system, we show that the Heisenberg limit $1/N$ can be beaten by the coherent superposition without the help of indefinite causal order. And in parameter estimation, we demonstrate that the strategy with the coherent superposition can perform better than the strategy with quantum \textsc{switch} which can generate indefinite causal order. We analytically obtain the general form of estimation precision in terms of the quantum Fisher information and further prove that the nonlinear Hamiltonian can improve the estimation precision and make the measurement uncertainty scale as $1/N^m$ for $m\geq2$. Our results can help to construct a high-precision measurement equipment, which can be applied to the detection of coupling strength and the test of time dilation and the modification of the canonical commutation relation.