Stochastic approach for quantum metrology with generic Hamiltonians

TL;DR

This paper introduces a stochastic parameter-shift rule for quantum metrology with generic Hamiltonians, enabling the calculation of quantum Fisher information on universal quantum computers, and demonstrates its effectiveness in magnetic field estimation.

Contribution

It develops a novel time-dependent stochastic parameter-shift rule for derivatives of evolved states, extending variational quantum metrology to generic Hamiltonians.

Findings

The stochastic rule accurately estimates quantum Fisher information.

Results are consistent with exact calculations in magnetic field estimation.

Standard parameter-shift rules show slight deviations from exact results.

Abstract

Recently, variational quantum metrology was proposed for Hamiltonians with multiplicative parameters, wherein the estimation precision can be optimized via variational circuits. However, systems with generic Hamiltonians still lack these variational schemes. This work introduces a quantum-circuit-based approach for studying quantum metrology with generic Hamiltonians. We present a time-dependent stochastic parameter-shift rule for the derivatives of evolved quantum states, whereby the quantum Fisher information can be obtained. The scheme can be executed in universal quantum computers under the family of parameterized gates. In magnetic field estimations, we demonstrate the consistency between the results obtained from the stochastic parameter-shift rule and the exact results, while the results obtained from a standard parameter-shift rule slightly deviate from the exact ones. Our work sheds light on studying quantum metrology with generic Hamiltonians using quantum circuit algorithms.