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A generalized collision model is developed to investigate coherent charging a single quantum battery by repeated interactions with many-atom large spins, where collective atom operators are adopted and the battery is modeled by a uniform energy ladder. For an initially empty battery, we derive analytical results of the average number of excitations and hence the charging power in the short-time limit. Our analytical results show that a faster charging and an increased amount of the power in the coherent protocol uniquely arise from the phase coherence of the atoms. Finally, we show that the charging power defined by the so-called ergotropy almost follows our analytical result, due to a nearly pure state of the battery in the short-time limit., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

The Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound plays a central role in both classical and quantum parameter estimation, but finding the observable and the resulting inversion estimator that saturates this bound remains an open issue for general multi-outcome measurements. Here we consider multi-outcome homodyne detection in a coherent-light Mach-Zehnder interferometer and construct a family of inversion estimators that almost saturate the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound over the whole range of phase interval. This provides a clue on constructing optimal inversion estimators for phase estimation and other parameter estimation in any multi-outcome measurement., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

Photon counting measurement has been regarded as the optimal measurement scheme for phase estimation in the squeezed-state interferometry, since the classical Fisher information equals to the quantum Fisher information and scales as $\bar{n}^2$ for given input number of photons $\bar{n}$. However, it requires photon-number-resolving detectors with a large enough resolution threshold. Here we show that a collection of $N$-photon detection events for $N$ up to the resolution threshold $\sim \bar{n}$ can result in the ultimate estimation precision beyond the shot-noise limit. An analytical formula has been derived to obtain the best scaling of the Fisher information., Comment: one column, 15 pages, 3 figures

Squeezed-state interferometry plays an important role in quantum-enhanced optical phase estimation, as it allows the estimation precision to be improved up to the Heisenberg limit by using ideal photon-number-resolving detectors at the output ports. Here we show that for each individual $N$-photon component of the phase-matched coherent $\otimes$ squeezed vacuum input state, the classical Fisher information always saturates the quantum Fisher information. Moreover, the total Fisher information is the sum of the contributions from each individual $N$-photon components, where the largest $N$ is limited by the finite number resolution of available photon counters. Based on this observation, we provide an approximate analytical formula that quantifies the amount of lost information due to the finite photon number resolution, e.g., given the mean photon number $\bar{n}$ in the input state, over $96$ percent of the Heisenberg limit can be achieved with the number resolution larger than $5\bar{n}$., Comment: A new analytical result of the Fisher information (Eq.(18), or more generally, Eq.(B9)) has been derived to quantify how much the phase information is kept (or lost) due to finite number resolution of the photon-counting detectors

Polarized light microscopy using path-entangled $N$-photon states (i.e., the N00N states) has been demonstrated to surpass the shot-noise limit at very low light illumination. However, the microscopy images suffer from divergence of phase sensitivity, which inevitably reduces the image quality. Here, we show that due to experimental imperfections, such a singularity also takes place in the microscopy that uses twin-Fock states of light for illumination. We propose two schemes to completely eliminate this singularity: (i) locking the phase shift sensed by the beams at the optimal working point, by using a spatially dependent offset phase; (ii) a combination of two binary-outcome photon counting measurements, one with a fixed offset phase and the other without any offset phase. Our observations remain valid for any kind of binary-outcome measurement and may open the way for quantum-enhanced microscopy with high $N$ photon states., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

The precise calculations of the Wigner's d-matrix are important in various research fields. Due to the presence of large numbers, direct calculations of the matrix using the Wigner's formula suffer from loss of precision. We present a simple method to avoid this problem by expanding the d-matrix into a complex Fourier series and calculate the Fourier coefficients by exactly diagonalizing the angular-momentum operator $J_{y}$ in the eigenbasis of $J_{z}$. This method allows us to compute the d-matrix and its various derivatives for spins up to a few thousand. The precision of the d-matrix from our method is about $10^{-14}$ for spins up to $100$., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; a Fortran90 code is included; resubmitted to Phys. Rev. E

Optimal measurement scheme with an efficient data processing is important in quantum-enhanced interferometry. Here we prove that for a general binary outcome measurement, the simplest data processing based on inverting the average signal can saturate the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound. This idea is illustrated by binary outcome homodyne detection, even-odd photon counting (i.e., parity detection), and zero-nonzero photon counting that have achieved super-resolved interferometric fringe and shot-noise limited sensitivity in coherent-light Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The roles of phase diffusion are investigated in these binary outcome measurements. We find that the diffusion degrades the fringe resolution and the achievable phase sensitivity. Our analytical results confirm that the zero-nonzero counting can produce a slightly better sensitivity than that of the parity detection, as demonstrated in a recent experiment., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; typing error are fixed; the published version

We present a detailed analysis of spin squeezing of the one-axis twisting model with a many-body phase dephasing, which is induced by external field fluctuation in a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensates. Even in the presence of the dephasing, our analytical results show that the optimal initial state corresponds to a coherent spin state $|\theta_{0}, \phi_0\rangle$ with the polar angle $\theta_0=\pi/2$. If the dephasing rate $\gamma\ll S^{-1/3}$, where $S$ is total atomic spin, we find that the smallest value of squeezing parameter (i.e., the strongest squeezing) obeys the same scaling with the ideal one-axis twisting case, namely $\xi^2\propto S^{-2/3}$. While for a moderate dephasing, the achievable squeezing obeys the power rule $S^{-2/5}$, which is slightly worse than the ideal case. When the dephasing rate $\gamma>S^{1/2}$, we show that the squeezing is weak and neglectable., Comment: 14.2pages, 3 figures

The single-mode Dicke model is well-known to undergo a quantum phase transition from the so-called normal phase to the supperradiant phase (hereinafter called the "superradiant quantum phase transition"). Normally, quantum phase transitions are closely related to the critical behavior of quantities such as entanglement, quantum fluctuations, and fidelity. In this paper, we study quantum Fisher information (QFI) of the field mode and that of the atoms in the ground state of the Dicke Hamiltonian. For finite and large enough number of atoms, our numerical results show that near the critical atom-field coupling, the QFIs of the atomic and the field subsystems can surpass the classical limits, due to the appearance of nonclassical squeezed states. As the coupling increases far beyond the critical point, the two subsystems are in highly mixed states, which degrade the QFI and hence the ultimate phase sensitivity. In the thermodynamic limit, we present analytical results of the QFIs and their relationships with the reduced variances. For each subsystem, we find that there is a singularity in the derivative of the QFI at the critical point, a clear signature of quantum criticality in the Dicke model., Comment: 7.8 pages, 3 figures, typing errors are fixed and new references are added

We investigate the performance of entangled coherent state for quantum enhanced phase estimation. An exact analytical expression of quantum Fisher information is derived to show the role of photon losses on the ultimate phase sensitivity. We find a transition of the sensitivity from the Heisenberg scaling to the classical scaling due to quantum decoherence of the photon state. This quantum-classical transition is uniquely determined by the number of photons being lost, instead of the number of incident photons or the photon loss rate alone. Our results also reveal that a crossover of the sensitivity between the entangled coherent state and the NOON state can occur even for very small photon loss rate., Comment: 7 page, 3 figures

The minimum error of unbiased parameter estimation is quantified by the quantum Fisher information in accordance to the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound. We indicate that only superposed NOON states by simultaneous measurements can achieve the maximum quantum Fisher information with form $<\hat{N}^{2}>$ for a given photon number distribution by a POVM in linear two-path interferometer phase measurement. We present a series of specified superposed states with infinite quantum Fisher information but with finite average photon numbers. The advantage of this unbounded quantum Fisher information will be beneficial to many applications in quantum technology., Comment: 6 pages and 3 figures

Squeezed spin states possess unique quantum correlation or entanglement that are of significant promises for advancing quantum information processing and quantum metrology. In recent back to back publications [C. Gross \textit{et al, Nature} \textbf{464}, 1165 (2010) and Max F. Riedel \textit{et al, Nature} \textbf{464}, 1170 (2010)], reduced spin fluctuations are observed leading to spin squeezing at -8.2dB and -2.5dB respectively in two-component atomic condensates exhibiting one-axis-twisting interactions (OAT). The noise reduction limit for the OAT interaction scales as $\propto 1/{N^{2/3}}$, which for a condensate with $N\sim 10^3$ atoms, is about 100 times below standard quantum limit. We present a scheme using repeated Rabi pulses capable of transforming the OAT spin squeezing into the two-axis-twisting type, leading to Heisenberg limited noise reduction $\propto 1/N$, or an extra 10-fold improvement for $N\sim 10^3$., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

Including collisional decoherence explicitly, phase sensitivity for estimating effective scattering strength $\chi$ of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate is derived analytically. With a measurement of spin operator $\hat{J}_{x}$, we find that the optimal sensitivity depends on initial coherent spin state. It degrades by a factor of $(2\gamma)^{1/3}$ below super-Heisenberg limit $\propto 1/N^{3/2}$ for particle number $N$ and the dephasing rate $1<\!<\gamma

As an "input" state of a linear (Mach-Zehnder or Ramsey) interferometer, the phase-squeezed state proposed by Berry and Wiseman exhibits the best sensitivity approaching to the Heisenberg limit [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5098 (2000)]. In this paper, we find that it can be generated dynamically with atomic Bose-Einstein condensates confined in a symmetric double well. Similar with the Berry and Wiseman's state, the prepared states show the squeezing along spin operator S_y and the anti-squeezing along S_z, leading to a sub-shot-noise of the phase sensitivity., Comment: 6.2 pages, 4 figures

We investigate phase diffusion of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensates prepared initially in arbitrary coherent spin state $|\theta_0,\phi_0\rangle$. Analytical expression of the phase-diffusion time is presented for $\theta_0\neq\pi/2$ case. In comparison with the symmetrical case (i.e., $\theta_0=\pi/2$), we find that the diffusion process becomes slowly due to the reduced atom number variance., Comment: 3.6pages, 3 figures

Based upon standard angular momentum theory, we develop a framework to investigate polarization squeezing and multipartite entanglement of a quantum light field. Both mean polarization and variances of the Stokes parameters are obtained analytically, with which we study recent observation of triphoton states [L. K. Shalm {\it et al}, Nature \textbf{457}, 67 (2009)]. Our results show that the appearance of maximally entangled NOON states accompanies with a flip of mean polarization and can be well understood in terms of quantum Fisher information., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the Quantum Optical Information Technology feature issue of JOSA B.

We investigate spin dynamics of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with weak Josephson coupling. Analytical expressions of atom-number squeezing and bipartite entanglement are presented for atom-atom repulsive interactions. For attractive interactions, there is no number squeezing; however, the squeezing parameter is still useful to recognize the appearance of Schr\"{o}dinger's cat state., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We investigate spin squeezing of a two-mode boson system with a Josephson coupling. An exact relation between the squeezing and the single-particle coherence at the maximal-squeezing time is discovered, which provides a more direct way to measure the squeezing by readout the coherence in atomic interference experiments. We prove explicitly that the strongest squeezing is along the $J_z$ axis, indicating the appearance of atom number-squeezed state. Power laws of the strongest squeezing and the optimal coupling with particle number $N$ are obtained based upon a wide range of numerical simulations., Comment: 4 figures, revtex4, new refs. are added

This paper has been withdrawn by the author(s), due a crucial sign error in conclusion ., Comment: This paper has been withdrawn by the author(s), due a crucial sign error in conclusion

We systematically study the fluorescence of low density Frenkel excitons in a crystal slab containing $N_T$ V-type three-level atoms. Based on symmetric quasi-spin realization of SU(3) in large $N$ limit, the two-mode exciton operators are invoked to depict various collective excitations of the collection of these V-type atoms starting from their ground state. By making use of the rotating wave approximation, the light intensity of radiation for the single lattice layer is investigated in detail. As a quantum coherence effect, the quantum beat phenomenon is discussed in detail for different initial excitonic states. We also test the above results analytically without the consideration of the rotating wave approximation and the self-interaction of radiance field is also included., Comment: 18pages, 17 figures. Resubmit to Phys. Rev. B

By using the normal ordering method, we study the state evolution of an optically driven excitons in a quantum well immersed in a leaky cavity, which was introduced by Yu-xi Liu et.al. [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 63}, 033816 (2001)]. The influence of the external laser field on the quantum decoherence of a mesoscopically superposed states of the excitons is investigated. Our result shows that, thought the characteristic time of decoherence does not depend on the external field, the phase of the decoherence factor can be well controlled by adjusting the external parameters., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figues

By making the second quantization for the Cini Model of quantum measurement without wave function collapse [M. Cini, Nuovo Cimento, B73 27(1983)], the second order quantum decoherence (SOQD) is studied with a two mode boson system interacting with an idealized apparatus composed by two quantum oscillators. In the classical limit that the apparatus is prepared in a Fock state with a very large quantum number, or in a coherent state with average quantum numbers large enough, the SOQD phenomenon appears similar to the first order case of quantum decoherence., Comment: 12 pages, revtex, 2 figures

We implement the normal ordering technique to study the quantum dissipation of a single mode harmonic oscillator system. The dynamic evolution of the system is investigated for a reasonable initial state by solving the Schr\"{o}dinger equation directly through the normal ordering technique. The decoherence process of the system for the cases $T=0K$ and $T\neq0K$ is investigated as an application., Comment: 13 pages, revtex, no figures

We show how to improve the efficiency for preparing Bell states in coupled two quantum dots system. A measurement to the state of driven quantum laser field leads to wave function collapse. This results in highly efficiency preparation of Bell states. The effect of decoherence on the efficiency of generating Bell states is also discussed in this paper. The results show that the decoherence does not affect the relative weight of $|00>$ and $|11>$ in the output state, but the efficiency of finding Bell states., Comment: 4 pages, 2figures, corrected some typos

We propose a natural expansion of the atomic field operator in studying elementary excitations in trapped Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) system near T=0K. Based on this expansion, a system of coupled equations for elementary excitations, which is equivalent to the standard linearized GP equation, is given to describe the collective excitation of BEC in a natual way. Applications of the new formalism to the homogeneous case emphasize on the zero mode and its relevant ground state of BEC., Comment: 10 pages, no figures