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The detrimental impact of noise on sensing performance in quantum metrology has been widely recognized by researchers in the field. However, there are no explicit fundamental laws of physics stating that noise invariably weakens quantum metrology. We reveal that phase-covariant (PC) noise either degrades or remains neutral to sensing precision, whereas non-phase-covariant (NPC) noise can potentially enhance parameter estimation, surpassing even the ultimate precision limit achievable in the absence of noise. This implies that a non-Hermitian quantum sensor may outperform its Hermitian counterpart in terms of sensing performance. To illustrate and validate our theory, we present several paradigmatic examples of magnetic field metrology., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures

Cavity-magnon systems are emerging as a fruitful architecture for the integration of quantum technologies and spintronic technologies, where magnons are coupled to microwave photons via the magnetic-dipole interaction. Controllable the photon-magnon (P-M) couplings provide a powerful means of accessing and manipulating quantum states in such hybrid systems. Thus determining the relevant P-M couplings is a fundamental task. Here we address the quantum estimation problem for the P-M coupling strength in a double-cavity-magnon system with drive and dissipation. The effects of various physical factors on the estimation precision are investigated and the underlying physical mechanisms are discussed in detail. Considering that in practical experiments it is almost infeasible to perform measurements on the global quantum state of this composite system, we identify the optimal subsystem for performing measurements and estimations. Further, we evaluate the performance of different Gaussian measurements, indicating that optimal Gaussian measurement almost saturates the ultimate theoretical bound on the estimation precision given by the quantum Fisher information., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures

The dissipative quantum Fisher information (DQFI) for a dynamic map with a general parameter in an open quantum system is investigated, which can be regarded as an analog of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) in the Liouville space. We first derive a general dissipative generator in the Liouville space, and based on its decomposition form, find the DQFI stems from two parts. One is the dependence of eigenvalues of the Liouvillian supermatrix on the estimated parameter, which shows a linear dependence on time. The other is the variation of the eigenvectors with the estimated parameter. The relationship between this part and time presents rich characteristics, including harmonic oscillation, pure exponential gain and attenuation, as well as exponential gain and attenuation of oscillatory type, which depend specifically on the properties of the Liouville spectrum. This is in contrast to that of the conventional generator, where only oscillatory dependencies are seen. Further, we illustrate the theory through a toy model: a two-level system with spin-flip noise. Especially, by using the DQFI, we demonstrated that the exceptional estimation precision cannot be obtained at the Liouvillian exceptional point., Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures

Photon number-squeezed states are of significant value in fundamental quantum research and have a wide range of applications in quantum metrology. Most of their preparation mechanisms require precise control of quantum dynamics and are less tolerant to dissipation. We propose a mechanism that is not subject to these restraints. In contrast to common approaches, we exploit the self-balancing between two types of dissipation induced by positive- and negative-temperature reservoirs to generate steady states with sub-Poissonian statistical distributions of photon numbers. We also show how to implement this mechanism with cavity optomechanical systems. The quality of the prepared photon number-squeezed state is estimated by our theoretical model combined with realistic parameters for various typical optomechanical systems., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 90 referances

Interferometers are crucial for precision measurements, including gravitational waves, laser ranging, radar, and imaging. The phase sensitivity, the core parameter, can be quantum-enhanced to break the standard quantum limit (SQL) using quantum states. However, quantum states are highly fragile and quickly degrade with losses. We design and demonstrate a quantum interferometer utilizing a beam splitter with a variable splitting ratio to protect the quantum resource against environmental impacts. The optimal phase sensitivity can reach the quantum Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound of the system. This quantum interferometer can greatly reduce the quantum source requirements in quantum measurements. In theory, with a 66.6% loss rate, the sensitivity can break the SQL using only a 6.0 dB squeezed quantum resource with the current interferometer rather than a 24 dB squeezed quantum resource with a conventional squeezing-vacuum-injected Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In experiments, when using a 2.0 dB squeezed vacuum state, the sensitivity enhancement remains at ~1.6 dB via optimizing the first splitting ratio when the loss rate changes from 0% to 90%, indicating that the quantum resource is excellently protected with the existence of losses in practical applications. This strategy could open a way to retain quantum advantages for quantum information processing and quantum precision measurement in lossy environments., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures