Quantum-enhanced joint estimation of phase and phase diffusion

Abstract

Accurate phase estimation in the presence of unknown phase diffusive noise is a crucial yet challenging task in noisy quantum metrology. This problem is particularly interesting due to the detrimental impact of the associated noise. Here, we investigate the joint estimation of phase and phase diffusion using generalized Holland–Burnett states, known for their experimental accessibility. These states provide performance close to the optimal state in single-parameter phase estimation, even in the presence of photon losses. We adopt a twofold approach by analyzing the joint information extraction through the double homodyne measurement and the joint information availability across all probe states. Through our analysis, we find that the highest sensitivities are obtained by using states created by directing all input photons into one port of a balanced beam splitter. Furthermore, we infer that good levels of sensitivity persist even in the presence of moderate photon losses, illustrating the remarkable resilience of our probe states under lossy conditions.