Quantum limits of thermometry

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.011611· OSTI ID:21442881

Stace, Thomas M ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072 (Australia)

The precision of typical thermometers consisting of N particles scales as {approx}1/{radical}(N). For high-precision thermometry and thermometric standards, this presents an important theoretical noise floor. Here it is demonstrated that thermometry may be mapped onto the problem of phase estimation, and using techniques from optimal phase estimation, it follows that the scaling of the precision of a thermometer may in principle be improved to {approx}1/N, representing a Heisenberg limit to thermometry.

• OSTI ID: 21442881
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 82, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.82.011611; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCURACY
NOISE
QUANTUM MECHANICS
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
THERMOMETERS
UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MECHANICS