Ultra-high dynamic range quantum measurement retaining its sensitivity.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33436617.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-20561-x and PMC identifier 7804307.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Quantum sensors are highly sensitive since they capitalise on fragile quantum properties such as coherence, while enabling ultra-high spatial resolution. For sensing, the crux is to minimise the measurement uncertainty in a chosen range within a given time. However, basic quantum sensing protocols cannot simultaneously achieve both a high sensitivity and a large range. Here, we demonstrate a non-adaptive algorithm for increasing this range, in principle without limit, for alternating-current field sensing, while being able to get arbitrarily close to the best possible sensitivity. Therefore, it outperforms the standard measurement concept in both sensitivity and range. Also, we explore this algorithm thoroughly by simulation, and discuss the T<sup>-2</sup> scaling that this algorithm approaches in the coherent regime, as opposed to the T<sup>-1/2</sup> of the standard measurement. The same algorithm can be applied to any modulo-limited sensor.