Energy-independent tomography of Gaussian states

TL;DR

This paper introduces an efficient, energy-independent Gaussian state tomography algorithm with provable guarantees, significantly improving sample complexity and practical feasibility for quantum optics applications.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel adaptive tomography algorithm for Gaussian states with trace-distance guarantees, independent of photon number, and improve bounds for heterodyne tomography.

Findings

Doubly-exponential improvement over existing methods

Sample complexity depends only on the number of modes

Algorithm employs experimentally accessible operations

Abstract

The exploration of tomography of bosonic Gaussian states is presumably as old as quantum optics, but only recently, their precise and rigorous study have been moving into the focus of attention, motivated by technological developments. In this work, we present an efficient and experimentally feasible Gaussian state tomography algorithm with provable recovery trace-distance guarantees, whose sample complexity depends only on the number of modes, and - remarkably - is independent of the state's photon number or energy, up to doubly logarithmic factors. Our algorithm yields a doubly-exponential improvement over existing methods, and it employs operations that are readily accessible in experimental settings: the preparation of an auxiliary squeezed vacuum, passive Gaussian unitaries, and homodyne detection. At its core lies an adaptive strategy that systematically reduces the total squeezing of the system, enabling efficient tomography. Quite surprisingly, this proves that estimating a Gaussian state in trace distance is generally more efficient than directly estimating its covariance matrix. Our algorithm is particularly well-suited for applications in quantum metrology and sensing, where highly squeezed - and hence high-energy - states are commonly employed. As a further contribution, we establish improved sample complexity bounds for standard heterodyne tomography, equipping this widely used protocol with rigorous trace-norm guarantees.