Quantum Measurements and Sensing

Quantum measurement is where the abstract postulates of quantum mechanics meet real instruments, and this graduate course treats measurement itself as the central object of study — how extracting information from a quantum system perturbs it, and how that tradeoff sets fundamental limits on what you can sense. You'll work through projection noise, the standard quantum limit, Ramsey-based phase estimation, and stochastic master equations, with weekly quizzes keeping the math honest and a term project pushing you into a specific platform like NV centers or backaction-evading schemes. It builds on a solid quantum mechanics background and a working comfort with probability, and it's the bridge to research in quantum sensing, metrology, and continuously monitored quantum systems — areas where the difference between standard and Heisenberg scaling is the difference between a publishable result and a footnote.