Optimal control of a quantum sensor: A fast algorithm based on an analytic solution

Quantum sensors can show unprecedented sensitivities, provided they are controlled in a very specific, optimal way. Here, we consider a spin sensor of time-varying fields in the presence of dephasing noise, and we show that the problem of finding the pulsed control field that optimizes the sensitivi...

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Published inSciPost physics Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 004
Main Authors Hernández-Gómez, Santiago, Balducci, Federico, Fasiolo, Giovanni, Cappellaro, Paola, Fabbri, Nicole, Scardicchio, Antonello
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SciPost 01.07.2024
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Summary:Quantum sensors can show unprecedented sensitivities, provided they are controlled in a very specific, optimal way. Here, we consider a spin sensor of time-varying fields in the presence of dephasing noise, and we show that the problem of finding the pulsed control field that optimizes the sensitivity (i.e., the smallest detectable signal) can be mapped to the determination of the ground state of a spin chain. We find an approximate but analytic solution of this problem, which provides a lower bound for the sensitivity and a pulsed control very close to optimal, which we further use as initial guess for realizing a fast simulated annealing algorithm. We experimentally demonstrate the sensitivity improvement for a spin-qubit magnetometer based on a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond.
ISSN:2542-4653
2542-4653
DOI:10.21468/SciPostPhys.17.1.004