English

The Multiparameter Frontier: Metrological Hierarchy and Robustness in Dispersive Quantum Interferometry

Quantum Physics 2026-02-17 v1

Abstract

We present a dispersive quantum thermometry protocol for simultaneous estimation of inverse temperature β\beta and interaction strength xx using a nonlinear Mach-Zehnder interferometer coupled to a thermal ancilla. We derive closed-form expressions for the quantum Fisher information matrix, establishing that metrological performance depends solely on the thermal visibility V(β)\mathcal{V}(\beta) and its derivative. The output state remains diagonal in photon-number basis, making photon counting globally optimal and saturating the multiparameter quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound without adaptive feedback. Moving beyond ideal unitary evolution, we analyze protocol robustness under concurrent amplitude and phase damping. Using Fisher Information Susceptibility, we establish a clear hierarchy: NOON states offer maximal theoretical sensitivity but exhibit exponential fragility to loss, rendering them impractical. Squeezed vacuum states emerge as robust candidates for steady-state sensing, while cat states prove compelling for transient thermometry by retaining significant coherence after photon loss. We validate these predictions through digital quantum circuit implementation on IBM's \texttt{ibm_torino} processor. Experimental results confirm the predicted Fisher information landscape while revealing systematic noise-induced biases, demonstrating that current NISQ hardware can effectively benchmark fundamental trade-offs in multiparameter quantum sensing.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.14420,
  title  = {The Multiparameter Frontier: Metrological Hierarchy and Robustness in Dispersive Quantum Interferometry},
  author = {Lucas Ferreira R. de Moura and Daniel Y. Akamatsu and G. D. de Moraes Neto and Norton G. de Almeida},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.14420},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:37:57.231Z