Fock state interferometry for quantum enhanced phase discrimination

Abstract

We study Fock state interferometry, consisting of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with two Fock state inputs and photon-number-resolved detection at the two outputs. We show that it allows discrimination of a discrete number of apriori-known optical phase shifts with an error probability lower than what is feasible with classical techniques under a mean photon number constraint. We compare its performance with the optimal quantum probe for M-ary phase discrimination, which unlike our probe, is difficult to prepare. Our technique further allows discriminating a null phase shift from an increasingly small one at zero probability of error under ideal conditions, a feature impossible to attain using classical probe light. Finally, we describe one application to quantum reading with binary phase-encoded memory pixels.