Heisenberg-Limited Quantum Metrology Using Collective Dephasing
Shingo Kukita, Yuichiro Matsuzaki, Yasushi Kondo · Physical Review Applied · 2021
The goal of quantum metrology is the precise estimation of parameters using quantum properties such as entanglement. This estimation usually consists of three steps: state preparation, time evolution during which information of the parameters is encoded in the state, and readout of the state. Decoherence during the time evolution typically degrades the performance of quantum metrology and is considered to be one of the major obstacles to realizing entanglement-enhanced sensing. We show, however, that under suitable conditions, this decoherence can be exploited to improve the sensitivity. Assume that we have two axes, and our aim is to estimate the relative angle between them. Our results reveal that the use of Markovian collective dephasing to estimate the relative angle between the two directions affords Heisenberg-limited sensitivity. Moreover, our protocol based on Markovian collective dephasing is robust against environmental noise: it is possible to achieve the Heisenberg limit by applying the collective dephasing even under the effect of independent dephasing. Our counterintuitive proposal with the decoherence leads to alternative applications in quantum metrology.