Phase detection at the quantum limit with multiphoton Mach-Zehnder interferometry

Year: 2007

Authors: Pezzé L., Smerzi A., Khoury G., Hodelin J.F., Bouwmeester D.

Autors Affiliation: BEC-CNR-INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, I-38050 Povo, Italy;
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

Abstract: We study a Mach-Zehnder interferometer fed by a coherent state in one input port and vacuum in the other. We explore a Bayesian phase estimation strategy to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the standard quantum limit independently from the true value of the phase shift and specific assumptions on the noise of the interferometer. We have been able to implement the protocol by using parallel operation of two photon-number-resolving detectors and multiphoton coincidence logic electronics at the output ports of a weakly illuminated Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This protocol is unbiased, saturates the Cramer-Rao phase uncertainty bound, and, therefore, is an optimal phase estimation strategy.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 99 (22)      Pages from: 223602-1  to: 223602-4

KeyWords: interferometry; bayesian;
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.223602

Citations: 98
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