Optimal metrology with programmable quantum sensors.

Quantum sensors are an established technology that has created new opportunities for precision sensing across the breadth of science. Using entanglement for quantum enhancement will allow us to construct the next generation of sensors that can approach the fundamental limits of precision allowed by quantum physics. However, determining how state-of-the-art sensing platforms may be used to converge to these ultimate limits is an outstanding challenge.

Quantum non-demolition measurement of a many-body Hamiltonian.

In an ideal quantum measurement, the wave function of a quantum system collapses to an eigenstate of the measured observable, and the corresponding eigenvalue determines the measurement outcome. If the observable commutes with the system Hamiltonian, repeated measurements yield the same result and thus minimally disturb the system. Seminal quantum optics experiments have achieved such quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements of systems with few degrees of freedom.

Unconditional Steady-State Entanglement in Macroscopic Hybrid Systems by Coherent Noise Cancellation.

The generation of entanglement between disparate physical objects is a key ingredient in the field of quantum technologies, since they can have different functionalities in a quantum network. Here we propose and analyze a generic approach to steady-state entanglement generation between two oscillators with different temperatures and decoherence properties coupled in cascade to a common unidirectional light field. The scheme is based on a combination of coherent noise cancellation and dynamical cooling techniques for two oscillators with effective masses of opposite signs, such as quasispin and motional degrees of freedom, respectively.

Time-continuous Bell measurements.

We combine the concept of Bell measurements, in which two systems are projected into a maximally entangled state, with the concept of continuous measurements, which concerns the evolution of a continuously monitored quantum system. For such time-continuous Bell measurements we derive the corresponding stochastic Schrödinger equations, as well as the unconditional feedback master equations. Our results apply to a wide range of physical systems, and are easily adapted to describe an arbitrary number of systems and measurements.