Distributed phase estimation and networked quantum sensors with W -type quantum probes

Abstract

Quantum sensors, offering novel sensing and imaging technologies beyond the capabilities of any classical device, enable harnessing new technologies from atomic clocks and nanoscale microscopy to gravitational wave detection and delicate biological measurements. We consider the performance of $W$-type quantum states as the probe for the networked quantum sensors. Providing an analytic result on the metrological performance of networked quantum sensors, we attain a criterion for the enhancement of the distributed phase estimations in networked quantum sensors. This insight enables us to compare the metrological power of certain quantum states. We also consider schemes that enable the generation and utility of such entangled quantum probes in practical settings.