Optimal phase estimation in the presence of correlated dephasing
1Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 5, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland
2Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
3Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Sciences and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
4Institute of Physics PAS, Aleja Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland
| Published: | 2026-10-28, volume 10, page 2251 |
| Editor: | Dennis Rätzel |
| Eprint: | arXiv:2511.07211v3 |
| Doi: | https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-10-28-2251 |
| Citation: | Quantum 10, 2251 (2026). |
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Abstract
We investigate optimal metrological protocols for phase estimation in the presence of correlated dephasing noise, including spin-squeezed state sensing strategies as well as parallel and adaptive protocols optimized using tensor-network-based numerical methods. The results are benchmarked against fundamental bounds obtained either via the latest quantum comb extension method or an optimized classical simulation method. We find that the spin-squeezed states offer practically optimal performance in the regime where phase fluctuations are positively correlated but can be outperformed by tensor-network-optimized strategies for negatively correlated fluctuations.

Featured image: Schematic diagram of a metrological channel estimation protocol with continuous temporal correlations.
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