Quantum limits in optical interferometry

Understand

Non-classical states of light find applications in enhancing the performance of optical interferometric experiments, with notable example of gravitational wave-detectors.

• Still, the presence of decoherence hinders significantly the performance of quantum-enhanced protocols.
• In this review, we summarize the developments of quantum metrology with particular focus on optical interferometry and derive fundamental bounds on achievable quantum-enhanced precision in optical interferometry taking into account the most relevant decoherence processes including: phase diffusion, losses and imperfect interferometric visibility.
• We introduce all the necessary tools of quantum optics as well as quantum estimation theory required to derive the bounds.