Roadmap on Weak Measurements in Optics

Abstract

Even though weak measurements and weak value amplification (WVA) are founded on the principles of quantum mechanics and quantum measurements, these have found widespread applications in optics due to their inherent origin in wave interference. Besides their use in addressing foundational questions of quantum mechanics or for resolving quantum paradoxes, weak measurements and WVA have thus been used for numerous metrological applications, e.g., quantification of small optical beam displacement, tiny angular rotation, determination of extremely small phase shifts, spectral shifts, unraveling weak fundamental optical effects, improved optical imaging, amplifying weak signal and extracting small physical parameters and so forth. In this review, after providing the mathematical foundation of weak measurement and WVA, some of the metrological applications of weak measurements in the classical optics domain are briefly summarized, and the controversies and debates on the potential advantages of WVA in the estimation and detection of weak signal are discussed, and the interferometric philosophy of WVA is elucidated. The experimental weak measurement and WVA schemes in the domain of quantum optics are also discussed and highlighted the new perspectives and emerging trends of weak measurements in both the classical and quantum optics domain and their prospects in the development of next-generation ultra-sensitive optical devices.