Quantum Sensing Simulation on Quantum Computers using Optimized Control

Quantum sensors are promising candidates to detect weak signals because of their unrivalled sensitivity to the external environment. However, testing of quantum sensing protocols has largely been restricted to the few experimentally viable quantum sensing platforms. We utilize publicly available quantum computers to study the performance of standard quantum sensing protocols, as well as develop novel protocols for detecting signals through the use of optimized control. We explore the problem of detecting a band-limited stochastic signal over background noise in the limit of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR<<1). We develop a new variational sensing algorithm that through closed-loop optimization, detects the stochastic signal of interest and demonstrate this detection protocol on the IBM Quantum Experience.