arXiv subjects

Arthur O. T. Pang

Publications and source records attributed to Arthur O. T. Pang.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sub-Rayleigh Imaging of Unequal-Intensity Sources: Near-Quantum-Limit Multiparameter Estimation

In optical imaging, diffraction strongly degrades the performance of conventional intensity-based estimation once the separation between two sources is below the Rayleigh-Abbe limit. Recent developments showed that this limitation can be surpassed using spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE), and this was demonstrated in several experiments for two equal-intensity spots of unknown separation. When there are multiple unknown parameters, as in the case of several unequal sources with unknown intensities and unknown separation, cross-talk among the parameters makes the multi-parameter estimation problem significantly more challenging. In this paper, we adapt super-resolved position localization by inversion of coherence along an edge (SPLICE) to estimate both the separation and relative intensity of two incoherent sources simultaneously. We demonstrate a clear advantage over direct imaging (DI), achieving a root mean squared error (RMSE) approximately $50 \%$ larger than the quantum limit and a sixfold improvement over DI within the range of parameters we tested. This improvement can be even greater for smaller separations and larger intensity imbalances when crosstalk is suppressed.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Information gain and measurement disturbance for quantum agents

The traditional formalism of quantum measurement (hereafter ``TQM'') describes processes where some properties of quantum states are extracted and stored as classical information. While TQM is a natural and appropriate description of how humans interact with quantum systems, it is silent on the question of how a more general, quantum, agent would do so. How do we describe the observation of a system by an observer with the ability to store not only classical information but quantum states in its memory? In this paper, we extend the idea of measurement to a more general class of sensors for quantum agents which interact with a system in such a way that the agent's memory stores information (classical or quantum) about the system under study. For appropriate sensory interactions, the quantum agent may ``learn'' more about the system than would be possible under any set of classical measurements -- but as we show, this comes at the cost of additional measurement disturbance. We experimentally demonstrate such a system and characterize the tradeoffs by considering the channel capacity required to erase the effect of a measurement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Compressing Quantum Fisher Information

We show that the quantum Fisher information about any phase parameter encoded in a family of pure quantum states can be faithfully compressed into a single qubit, accompanied by a logarithmic amount of classical bits. When the phase is encoded into many identical copies of a qubit state on the equator of the Bloch sphere, we show that the compression can be implemented sequentially, by iteratively compressing pairs of qubits into a single qubit. We experimentally demonstrate this building block in a photonic setup, developing two alternative compression strategies, based on Type-I fusion gate and a postselected implementation of the CNOT gate.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Generating a 4-photon Tetrahedron State: Towards Simultaneous Super-sensitivity to Non-commuting Rotations

It is often thought that the super-sensitivity of a quantum state to an observable comes at the cost of a decreased sensitivity to other non-commuting observables. For example, a squeezed state squeezed in position quadrature is super-sensitive to position displacements, but very insensitive to momentum displacements. This misconception was cleared with the introduction of the compass state, a quantum state equally super-sensitive to displacements in position and momentum. When looking at quantum states used to measure spin rotations, N00N states are known to be more advantageous than classical methods as long as they are aligned to the rotation axis. When considering the estimation of a rotation with unknown direction and amplitude, a certain class of states stands out with interesting properties. These states are equally sensitive to rotations around any axis, are second-order unpolarized, and can possess the rotational properties of platonic solids in particular dimensions. Importantly, these states are optimal for simultaneously estimating the three parameters describing a rotation. In the asymptotic limit, estimating all d parameters describing a transformation simultaneously rather than sequentially can lead to a reduction of the appropriately-weighted sum of the measured parameters' variances by a factor of d. We report the experimental creation and characterization of the lowest-dimensional such state, which we call the "tetrahedron state" due to its tetrahedral symmetry. This tetrahedron state is created in the symmetric subspace of four optical photons' polarization in a single spatial and temporal mode, which behaves as a spin-2 particle. While imperfections due to the hardware limit the performance of our method, we argue that better technology can improve our method to the point of outperforming any other existing strategy in per-photon comparisons.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Experimental Communication Through Superposition of Quantum Channels

Information capacity enhancement through the coherent control of channels has attracted much attention of late, with work exploring the effect of coherent control of channel causal orders, channel superpositions, and information encoding. Coherently controlling channels necessitates a non-trivial expansion of the channel description, which for superposing qubit channels, is equivalent to expanding the channel to act on qutrits. Here we explore the nature of this capacity enhancement for the superposition of channels by comparing the maximum coherent information through depolarizing qubit channels and relevant superposed and qutrit channels. We show that the expanded qutrit channel description in itself is sufficient to explain the capacity enhancement without any use of superposition.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Negative quasiprobabilities enhance phase estimation in quantum-optics experiment

Operator noncommutation, a hallmark of quantum theory, limits measurement precision, according to uncertainty principles. Wielded correctly, though, noncommutation can boost precision. A recent foundational result relates a metrological advantage with negative quasiprobabilities -- quantum extensions of probabilities -- engendered by noncommuting operators. We crystallize the relationship in an equation that we prove theoretically and observe experimentally. Our proof-of-principle optical experiment features a filtering technique that we term partially postselected amplification (PPA). Using PPA, we measure a waveplate's birefringent phase. PPA amplifies, by over two orders of magnitude, the information obtained about the phase per detected photon. In principle, PPA can boost the information obtained from the average filtered photon by an arbitrarily large factor. The filter's amplification of systematic errors, we find, bounds the theoretically unlimited advantage in practice. PPA can facilitate any phase measurement and mitigates challenges that scale with trial number, such as proportional noise and detector saturation. By quantifying PPA's metrological advantage with quasiprobabilities, we reveal deep connections between quantum foundations and precision measurement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Experimental Comparison of Bohm-like Theories with Different Ontologies

The de Broglie-Bohm theory is a hidden variable interpretation of quantum mechanics which involves particles moving through space with definite trajectories. This theory singles out position as the primary ontological variable. Mathematically, it is possible to construct a similar theory where particles are moving through momentum space, and momentum is singled out as the primary ontological variable. In this paper we experimentally show how the two theories lead to different ontological descriptions. We construct the putative particle trajectories for a two-slit experiment in both the position and momentum space theories by simulating particle dynamics with coherent light. Using a method for constructing trajectories through the primary and derived (i.e. non-primary) spaces, we compare the ontological pictures offered by the two theories and show that they do not agree. This contradictory behaviour brings into question which ontology for Bohmian mechanics is to be preferred.

quant-ph↗