The standard quantum limit (SQL), also known as the shot-noise limit, defines how quantum fluctuations of light constrain measurement precision. In a benchmark experiment using the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), where a coherent state with the average photon number $\langle n\rangle$ is combined with an ordinary vacuum input, the SQL for the phase uncertainty is given by the well-known relation $\Delta\varphi_{\text{SQL}} = 1/\langle n\rangle$. Using a single photon-added coherent state and a weak coherent state as inputs, we report an enhanced phase sensitivity in MZI surpassing the SQL. In stark contrast to other approaches, we focus on the low-photon-number regime, \langle n\rangle < 10, and demonstrate that our scheme offers better phase sensitivity compared to the SQL. Beating the SQL at low photon numbers paves the way for the new generation of devices employed in \textquotedblleft photon-starved\textquotedblright quantum sensing, spectroscopy, and metrology.

Spectroscopic methods play a vital role in quantum sensing, which uses the quantized nature of atoms or molecules to reach astonishing precision for sensing of, e.g., electric or magnetic fields. In the theoretical treatment, one typically invokes semiclassical methods to describe the light-matter interaction between quantum emitters, e.g., atoms or molecules, and a strong coherent laser field. However, these semiclassical approaches struggle to predict the stochastic measurement fluctuations beyond the mean value, necessary to predict the sensitivity of spectroscopic quantum sensing protocols. Here, we develop a theoretical framework based on the recently developed Photon-resolved Floquet theory (PRFT) which is capable to predict the measurement statistics describing higher order statistics of coherent quantum states of light. The PRFT constructs flow equations for the cumulants of the photonic measurement statistics utilizing only the semiclassical dynamics of the matter system. We apply the PRFT to spectroscopic quantum sensing using dissipative two-level and four-level systems (describing electric field sensing with Rydberg atoms), and demonstrate how to calculate the Fisher information of the measurement statistics with respect to various system parameters. In doing so, we demonstrate that the PRFT is a flexible tool allowing to improve the sensitivity of spectroscopic quantum sensing devices by several orders of magnitudes.

Relative intensity squeezing (RIS) is emerging as a promising technique for performing high-precision measurements beyond the shot-noise limit. A commonly used way to produce RIS in visible/IR range is generating correlated "twin beams" through four-wave mixing by driving atomic resonances with weak laser beams. Here, we propose an all-optical strong-field scheme to produce a series of relative-intensity squeezed high-order harmonic "twin beams". Due to the nature of high harmonics generation the frequencies of the "twin beams" can cover a broad range of photon energy. Our proposal paves the way for the development of nonclassical XUV sources and high precision spectroscopy tools in strong-field regime.