Coherently enhanced measurements in classical mechanics

Abstract

We show that the recently discovered quantum-enhanced measurement protocol of coherent averaging that is capable of achieving Heisenberg-limited sensitivity without using entanglement, has a classical analogue. The classical protocol uses N harmonic oscillators coupled to a central oscillator and one measures the signal from the latter. We propose an application to the measurement of very weak interactions, and, in particular, a novel route to measuring the gravitational constant with enhanced precision.