Coherence-Enhanced Spatial Quantum Thermometry
Abstract
Quantum thermometry has long promised sensitivities beyond classical limits, with recent paradigms highlighting quantum coherence as a primary driver of precision. While most studies focus on single-point temperature estimation, we extend this framework to the spatial domain. We consider a probe two-level system (TLS) coupled asymmetrically to an auxiliary TLS that equilibrates with a sample of profile T(x). The reduced probe state carries coherence in its local basis that remains temperature-sensitive after the probe transition has frozen out, yielding a Fisher information exponentially larger at low temperature than that of a population-only readout. An exact reparametrization converts the thermometric precision into a local spatial distinguishability bound; its validity requires only a sufficiently small relative temperature uncertainty and yields an explicit measurement budget. Adding auxiliary TLSs shifts the array's optimal working temperature upward and broadens the useful sensing window, with the achievable gain ultimately limited by the total available coupling rather than by an indefinite scaling law. Finally, we propose a microwave Mach-Zehnder interferometer that maps the temperature-dependent probe coherence onto an experimentally accessible quadrature observable.
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BibTeX
@misc{ullah2026coherenceenhanced,
title = {{Coherence-Enhanced Spatial Quantum Thermometry}},
author = {Asghar Ullah and Giovanni Scala and Luis L. Sánchez-Soto and Özgür E. Müstecaplıoğlu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.26936},
eprint = {2609.26936},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26936},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coherence-Enhanced Spatial Quantum Thermometry
AU - Asghar Ullah
AU - Giovanni Scala
AU - Luis L. Sánchez-Soto
AU - Özgür E. Müstecaplıoğlu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.26936
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26936
AB - Quantum thermometry has long promised sensitivities beyond classical limits, with recent paradigms highlighting quantum coherence as a primary driver of precision. While most studies focus on single-point temperature estimation, we extend this framework to the spatial domain. We consider a probe two-level system (TLS) coupled asymmetrically to an auxiliary TLS that equilibrates with a sample of profile T(x). The reduced probe state carries coherence in its local basis that remains temperature-sensitive after the probe transition has frozen out, yielding a Fisher information exponentially larger at low temperature than that of a population-only readout. An exact reparametrization converts the thermometric precision into a local spatial distinguishability bound; its validity requires only a sufficiently small relative temperature uncertainty and yields an explicit measurement budget. Adding auxiliary TLSs shifts the array's optimal working temperature upward and broadens the useful sensing window, with the achievable gain ultimately limited by the total available coupling rather than by an indefinite scaling law. Finally, we propose a microwave Mach-Zehnder interferometer that maps the temperature-dependent probe coherence onto an experimentally accessible quadrature observable.
ER -