Optimizing the Signal to Noise Ratio of a Beam Deflection Measurement with Interferometric Weak Values

Abstract

The amplification obtained using weak values is quantified through a detailed investigation of the signal to noise ratio for an optical beam deflection measurement. We show that for a given deflection, input power and beam radius, the use of interferometric weak values allows one to obtain the optimum signal to noise ratio using a coherent beam. This method has the advantage of reduced technical noise and allows for the use of detectors with a low saturation intensity. We report on an experiment which improves the signal to noise ratio for a beam deflection measurement by a factor of 54 when compared to a measurement using the same beam size and a quantum limited detector.

References in corpus (3)

• Ultrasensitive Beam Deflection Measurement via Interferometric Weak Value Amplification
• Weak values and the Leggett-Garg inequality in solid-state qubits
• Weak values of electron spin in a double quantum dot