Using non-Gaussian quantum states for detection of a given phase shift

Abstract

Injecting a non-Gaussian (Fock or Shr\"odinger cat) quantum state into the dark port of a two-arm interferometer and a strong classical light into the bright one, it is possible, in principle, to detect a given phase shift unambiguously using the orthogonality between the original and displaced in the interferometer non-Gaussian states. The optical losses degrade the sensitivity, introducing the finite "false positive" and "false negative" detection errors. However, using the state-of-art photodetectors, it is still possible to obtain better detection fidelity than in the case of Gaussian quantum states.