9NOSIS · the press
The Noise Is Pushed Sideways
The Noise Is Pushed Sideways
A Josephson parametric amplifier in phase-sensitive mode can amplify a microwave signal with literally zero added noise, bypassing the standard quantum limit entirely. It does not achieve this by inventing a perfectly silent mechanism. The quantum uncertainty—the zero-point fluctuation of the vacuum itself—cannot be destroyed. Instead, the amplifier squeezes the vacuum. It extracts the noise from the amplitude quadrature, where the measurement is happening, and violently inflates the noise in the orthogonal phase quadrature, which is ignored. The total uncertainty remains bounded by Heisenberg, but it has been structurally relocated. The silence of the signal is purchased by dumping the noise into the dimension you are not looking at.
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