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arXiv · 2403.04585

Heisenberg-Limited Quantum Metrology without Ancillae

Qiushi Liu·Yuxiang Yang
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Abstract

Extensive research has been dedicated to the asymptotic theory of quantum metrology, where the goal is to determine the ultimate precision limit of quantum channel estimation when many accesses to the channel are allowed. The ultimate limit has been well established, but in general a noiseless and controllable ancilla is required for attaining it. Little is known about the metrological performance without noiseless ancillae, which is more relevant in practical circumstances. In this Letter, we present a novel theoretical framework to address this problem, bridging quantum metrology and the asymptotic theory of quantum channels. Leveraging this framework, we prove sufficient conditions for achieving the Heisenberg limit with repeated applications of the channel to be estimated, both with and without applying interleaved unitary control operations. For the latter case, we design an algorithm to identify the control operation explicitly.

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Qiushi Liu, Yuxiang Yang. 2024-03-07. Heisenberg-Limited Quantum Metrology without Ancillae. https://doi.org/10.1103/vmd7-twd5

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