Observable Scaling Hierarchies in Multiphoton Dissipative Quantum Sensing

Abstract

We investigate how quantum correlations in squeezed driving fields determine scaling laws in dissipative multiphoton quantum sensing. Independently squeezed fields yield \emph{factorized} scaling, with separate absorption and emission contributions and nonlinear thresholds that suppress exponential scaling in linear processes. In contrast, jointly squeezed fields generate \emph{collective} scaling governed by the total nonlinear photon order of the dissipative interaction. Remarkably, we show that normally ordered observables do not inherit the full nonlinear scaling of the underlying multiphoton fluctuations. Instead, they exhibit asymptotic behavior with an effective nonlinear order reduced by one. This arises because normally ordered observables probe only part of the underlying multiphoton fluctuation structure. These findings reveal how multiphoton fluctuations, quantum correlations, and measurement structure jointly determine the experimentally accessible sensitivity of nonlinear dissipative quantum sensors and establish design principles for quantum sensing protocols based on structured squeezed light.

15 pages, 3 figures, and 1 table