Theory of quantum-enhanced interferometry with general Markovian light sources

Abstract: Quantum optical systems comprising quantum emitters interacting with engineered optical modes generate non-classical states of light that can be used as resource states for quantum-enhanced interferometry. However, outside of well-controlled systems producing either single-mode states (e.g. Fock states or squeezed states) or highly symmetric multi-mode states (e.g. superradiant states), their potential for quantum advantage remains uncharacterized. In this work, we develop a framework to analyze quantum enhanced interferometry with general Markovian quantum light sources. First, we show how to compute the quantum Fisher Information (QFI) of the photons emitted by a source efficiently by just tracking its internal dynamics and without explicitly computing the state of the emitted photons. We then use this relationship to elucidate the connection between the level structure and spectrum of the source to a potential quantum advantage in interferometry. Finally, we analyze optimal measurement protocols that can be used to achieve this quantum advantage with experimentally available optical elements. In particular, we show that tunable optical elements with Kerr non-linearity can always be harnessed to implement the optimal measurement for any given source. Simultaneously, we also outline general conditions under which linear optics and photodetection is enough to implement the optimal measurement.