The effects of symmetrical arrangement on quantum metrology

Abstract

Abstract An obstacle for precision improvement in quantum metrology is the information loss causing by the unavoidable interaction between probe system and environment. Quantum fluctuations are environment no system can be isolated from and it will make the precision of initial parameter estimation of the probe atom decrease with time. After the typical time of the spontaneous decay of the probe atom, the precision is greatly damaged. However, quantum fluctuations can be modified. Our results show that if we put several ancillary atoms beside the probe atom in symmetrical arrangement, the probe atom will be affected by the ancillary atoms indirectly and the information loss of the probe atom causing by the quantum fluctuations will be partially avoided. We find that the retained precision after long time evolution can approaches to $$\tfrac{{\bf{9}}}{{\bf{16}}}$$ 9 16 times of the initial precision in condition that the probe atom and three ancillary atoms are located in the vertex of regular tetrahedron.