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Ultimate Quantum Sensitivity in the Estimation of the Delay between two Interfering Photons through Frequency-Resolving Sampling

Danilo Triggiani1,*, Giorgos Psaroudis1, and Vincenzo Tamma1,2,†

  • 1School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, United Kingdom
  • 2Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3FX, United Kingdom

  • *danilo.triggiani@port.ac.uk
  • †vincenzo.tamma@port.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 044068 – Published 24 April, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.044068

Abstract

We demonstrate the ultimate sensitivity allowed by quantum physics in the estimation of the time delay between two photons by measuring their interference at a beam splitter through frequency-resolving sampling measurements. This sensitivity can be increased quadratically by decreasing the photonic temporal bandwidth even at values smaller than the time delay when standard two-photon interferometers become inoperable and without adapting the path of the reference photon, nor the need of time-resolving detectors with an unfeasible high resolution. Applications can range from the more feasible imaging of nanostructures, including biological samples, and nanomaterial surfaces to quantum enhanced estimation based on frequency-resolved boson sampling in optical networks.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 044068– Published 24 April, 2023
  • Received 21 June 2022
  • Revised 1 February 2023
  • Accepted 21 March 2023
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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