TR2026-037

Quantum-enhanced sensing of time-varying signals at the nanometer scale


    •  Lualdi, C., Rapp, J., Kwiat, P., "Quantum-enhanced sensing of time-varying signals at the nanometer scale", SPIE Photonics West, March 2026.
      BibTeX TR2026-037 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Lualdi2026mar,
      • author = {Lualdi, Colin and Rapp, Joshua and Kwiat, Paul},
      • title = {{Quantum-enhanced sensing of time-varying signals at the nanometer scale}},
      • booktitle = {SPIE Photonics West},
      • year = 2026,
      • month = mar,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-037}
      • }
  • MERL Contact:
  • Research Areas:

    Applied Physics, Computational Sensing, Signal Processing

Abstract:

The resilience of quantum two-photon interference against optical loss and background sets it apart from classical single-photon interference for the purpose of sensing. However, achieving fast measurements at the nanometer scale with two-photon interference is challenging, as attaining high resolution typically requires either ultra- broadband photons or many probe photons. To realize nanometer-scale measurements in a matter of seconds or less, we greatly increase the per-photon information content via highly non-degenerate energy entanglement. Our fast measurements thereby enable us to probe time-varying signals at the nanometer scale. To further develop our capabilities, we have drawn on single-photon imaging techniques to implement a robust protocol for reconstructing periodic signals from our relatively sparse detection data, complete with amplitude and frequency information. With this analysis regimen, we have successfully extracted complex multi-frequency signals as well as kHz-range acoustic vibrations. We review our method and present the results of an example measurement to illustrate our capabilities.