PHYS 434 Quantum Measurements and Sensing

Quantum mechanics tells you a measurement disturbs the system, but this course takes that fact seriously and asks how to extract the most information possible given that constraint, the theory behind atomic clocks, gravitational-wave detectors, and NV-center magnetometers. You'll work through projection noise and the standard quantum limit, build up parameter estimation in both classical and quantum settings, then handle continuous measurement with Itô calculus and stochastic master equations, capped by a team project on a real sensing platform. It builds directly on a solid quantum mechanics background and probability fluency, and points toward research in metrology, quantum optics, and quantum information hardware.