On the use of photonic N00N states for practical quantum interferometry

Abstract

The performance of photonic $N00N$ states, propagating in an attenuating medium, is analyzed with respect to phase estimation. It is shown that, for $N00N$ states propagating through a lossy medium, the Heisenberg limit is never achieved. It is also shown that, for a given value of $N$, a signal comprised of an attenuated separable state of $N$ photons will actually produce a better phase estimate than will a signal comprised of an equally attenuated $N00N$ state, unless the transmittance of the medium is very high. This is a consequence of the need to utilize measurement operators appropriate to the different signal states. The result is that, for most practical applications in realistic scenarios with attenuation, the resolution of $N00N$ state-based phase estimation not only does not achieve the Heisenberg Limit, but is actually worse than the Standard Quantum Limit. It is demonstrated that this performance deficit becomes more pronounced as the number, $N$, of photons in the signal increases.