arXiv subjects

Michael R. Grace

Publications and source records attributed to Michael R. Grace.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Attaining Fundamental Limits of Multiparameter Incoherent Optical Imaging Using Joint-Detection Quantum Measurements

Resolving extended incoherent objects below the diffraction limit poses an application-rich imaging challenge whose solution may enable a new generation of observational instruments and capabilities. In this work, we invoke a practical model for general imaging by approximating an arbitrary extended incoherent object as a finite grid of thermal point emitters parameterized by their brightnesses. We derive the quantum Fisher information matrix (QFIM) for simultaneous brightness estimation and show that the symmetric logarithmic derivatives weakly commute, indicating that the Helstrom bound furnishes the ultimate quantum limit on the estimation error for incoherent imaging. Furthermore, for deeply sub-diffraction scenes, we find numerical evidence of a gap between the Nagaoka-Hayashi (NH) bound and the Helstrom bound. This gap reveals that separable measurements, though more experimentally accessible, are insufficient to reach the quantum limit, and points to the prospective advantage of joint measurements acting on multiple state copies. Additionally, we show that spatial mode-demultiplexing (SPADE) often saturates the NH bound solidifying its status as a near-optimal separable measurement strategy that significantly outperforms direct imaging. Finally, we articulate two joint detection receivers implemented with bona fide quantum resources that asymptotically achieve the Helstrom bound.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Programmable pixel-mode linear interferometers using multi-plane light conversion

Programmable linear optical interferometers are a core primitive in optical signal processing, quantum information processing, and photonic computing. Existing photonic-integrated implementations realize arbitrary $M$-mode unitaries using Mach--Zehnder-interferometer meshes whose footprint and accumulated loss scale with $O(M^2)$ optical components. Here we analyze and experimentally demonstrate a programmable architecture for implementing linear optical transformations directly on spatially tiled free-space {\em pixel modes} using multi-plane light conversion (MPLC). In this architecture, $M$ spatial modes arranged on a transverse lattice undergo a unitary transformation and are mapped to $M$ output modes of identical geometry through a sequence of programmable phase masks separated by free-space propagation segments. Numerical simulations show that arbitrary $M$-mode unitaries can be compiled to a desired high fidelity using a number of phase planes that scales approximately linearly with $M$. Using a spatial-light-modulator-based MPLC, we experimentally demonstrate programmable interferometers acting on up to $16$ spatial pixel modes, including tunable beamsplitters, Hadamard unitaries, spatial permutations, and partial unitaries on select subsets of modes. These results establish MPLC-based pixel-mode interferometers as a promising architecture for programmable linear optics with applications in classical and quantum optical interconnects, photonic switching, and quantum information processing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Fundamental Limit for One versus Two Point Sources Detection using Direct Imaging

We consider the task of distinguishing between a single weak incoherent optical point source and two weak incoherent optical point sources located symmetrically about the first source. $θ$ is the separation between the two point sources scaled to the Point Spread Function (PSF) width in the image plane. Using an ideal focal plane array of intensity detectors (ideal direct imaging), we quantify the performance using the Bhattacharyya distance and find the scaling of its leading order term in terms of $θ$ in the sub-Rayleigh regime. A suite of previous analyses of this problem lacked a comprehensive analysis for when the amplitude spread function (ASF) of the imaging system has zeros and reported a scaling that we find to be incorrect. We complete this analysis by explicitly calculating the leading order term of the Bhattacharyya distance for ideal direct imaging with any ASF, for small $θ$ and show the difference in scaling based on the presence or absence of zeros in the ASF. This is similar to the ASF dependent performance in the task of estimating the separation between the two point sources and the task of detecting a change to an object. We then apply our results to the specific example of a Gaussian and a Sinc ASF and show good agreement with numerical calculations. Our results allow the accurate comparison of other measurement schemes with ideal direct imaging, and to the quantum limit.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Passive optical superresolution at the quantum limit

For more than a century, the diffraction limit has defined the resolution achievable by passive optical imaging systems. Although some resolution improvement can be gained through classical data processing of the image, it is limited by the noise arising from quantum nature of light. Minimizing the effect of this noise requires quantum treatment of optical imaging. By reformulating imaging as a problem of quantum measurement and estimation, it becomes possible to identify optimal detection strategies that recover spatial information previously thought inaccessible. This review summarizes the theoretical framework that underpins this development, from the formulation of quantum Cram\'er-Rao bounds and Chernoff bounds to the construction of receivers that attain them, such as those based on spatial-mode demultiplexing. We show how these methods can beat conventional imaging in the classification, localization, and imaging of sub-Rayleigh incoherent sources. We then discuss extensions to multiparameter and partially coherent scenarios, and highlight the unifying connections between estimation and discrimination tasks. Finally, we survey recent experimental demonstrations that approach quantum-limited resolution and outline emerging applications in microscopy, astronomy, and optical sensing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Entanglement Enhanced Estimation of a Parameter Embedded in Multiple Phases

Quantum-enhanced sensing promises to improve the performance of sensing tasks using non-classical probes and measurements that require far fewer scene-modulated photons than the best classical schemes, thereby granting previously-inaccessible information about a wide range of physical systems. We propose a generalized distributed sensing framework that uses an entangled quantum probe to estimate a scene-parameter encoded within an array of phases, with a functional dependence on that parameter determined by the physics of the actual system. The receiver uses a laser light source enhanced by quantum-entangled multi-partite squeezed-vacuum light to probe the phases and thereby estimate the desired scene-parameter. The entanglement suppresses the collective quantum vacuum noise across the phase array. We report simple analytical expressions for the Cramér Rao bound that depend only on the optical probes and the physical model of the measured system, and we show that our structured receiver asymptotically saturates the quantum Cramér-Rao bound in the lossless case. Our approach enables Heisenberg limited precision in estimating a scene-parameter with respect to total probe energy, as well as with respect to the number of modulated phases. Furthermore, we study the impact of uniform loss in our system and examine the behavior of both the quantum and the classical Cramér-Rao bounds. We apply our framework to examples as diverse as radio-frequency phased-array directional radar, beam-displacement tracking for atomic-force microscopy, and fiber-based temperature gradiometry.

quant-ph↗