Frequency Superresolution with Spectrotemporal Shaping of Photons

Abstract

Quantum sensing and metrology promise useful insights and alternative techniques to surpass the measurement limits of a classical framework. Significant improvement has been made in the areas of imaging, positioning, timing, interferometry, communication, and information processing through quantum detection and estimation techniques. In this Letter, we focus on the application of quantum information for spectral measurements. Specifically, we study the quantum limit to resolve two spectral modes with small frequency separation. We show that frequency superresolution can be achieved with spectrotemporal shaping of input fields before detection. Through a numerical optimization algorithm, we design the apparatus for spectrotemporal shaping based on phase modulation and dispersion engineering. This scheme can achieve performance close to the quantum limit with minimum resources, showing the robustness for experimental implementation and real-world applications. © 2021 American Physical Society.