Optimal estimation of matter-field coupling strength in the dipole approximation

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the study of the Bayesian-inference approach in the context of estimating the dipole coupling strength in matter-field interactions. In particular, we consider the simplest model of a two-level system interacting with a single mode of the radiation field. Our estimation strategy is based on the emerging state of the two-level system, whereas we determine both the minimum mean-square error and maximum likelihood estimators for uniform and Gaussian prior probability density functions. In the case of the maximum likelihood estimator, we develop a mathematical method which extends the already existing approaches to the variational problem of the average cost function. We demonstrate that long interaction times, large initial mean photon numbers, and nonzero detuning between two-level system transition and the frequency of the electromagnetic field mode have a deleterious effect on the optimality of the estimation scenario. We also present several cases where the estimation process is inconclusive, despite many ideal conditions being met.