Granularity Noise Limit in Atomic-Ensemble-Based Metrology
Chen-Rong Liu; Chuang Li; Runxia Tao; Yixuan Wang; Mingti Zhou; Xinqing Wang; Ying Dong · 2026 · arXiv
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Abstract (excerpt)
Conventional noise analysis in atomic-ensemble sensing assumes a continuous-medium approximation, thereby treating the atomic system as a deterministic dielectric. Here, we demonstrate that this assumption breaks down due to the discrete, particulate nature of the ensemble, giving rise to an intrinsic "atomic granularity noise" (AGN) that fundamentally competes with the optical measurement noise (OMN, typically photon shot noise). By introducing a discrete-atom statistical framework, we derive a unified noise-scaling law governed by a single dimensionless resource ratio, $\mathcal{R} = \bar{N}
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Metadata source: arXiv