Quantum coherence leveraged agnostic phase estimation

Abstract: Quantum metrology concerns improving the estimation of an unknown parameter using an optimal measurement scheme on the quantum system. More the optimality of the measurement, the better will be the improvement in sensing the value of the unknown parameter. Pertaining to the case of a two level system (qubit) undergoing rotation, a typical metrological task concerns the estimation of the angle of rotation ($\tau$) given the information about the axis of rotation ($\theta,\phi$). The method for garnering information about ($\tau)$ is through maximizing the Fisher information. In the absence of the axis-knowledge, the optimality of the metrological task reduces drastically. Drawing inspiration from recent works leveraging entanglement to connect closed time-like curves and metrology, we overcome this limitation (lack of the knowledge of the rotation axis) using an ancilla assisted protocol. Here, the probe and the ancilla interact through a coherently controlled superposition of unitary evolutions. The quantum coherence in the initial state of the ancilla forms as the resource aiding the protocol. By measuring the ancilla in the same coherent basis in which it was prepared, we achieve optimal Fisher information about the rotation angle, independent of the axis parameters. Notably, this resource-efficient and operationally simple agnostic sensing alternative is independent of both the entanglement in the initial joint state of the probe and the ancilla and entangling measurements, yet accounts for maximum Fisher information about the angle of rotation.