The sensitivity of quantum sensors is fundamentally constrained by the standard quantum limit (SQL) arising from intrinsic quantum fluctuations. While non-classical resources like squeezing or entanglement can surpass this limit, their utility is often restricted by the extreme fragility of entangled states and the complexity of their preparation. Quantum criticality offers a compelling alternative by harnessing divergent susceptibility to amplify signals without requiring fragile non-classical resources. However, the practical benefit of this approach has remained controversial due to the potential for the simultaneous amplification of quantum noise. Here, we demonstrate a universal protocol for noiseless critical sensing by engineering a light-driven atomic ensemble near a dynamical critical point. Analogous to a Kapitza pendulum near its inverted orientation, the spin system enters a non-equilibrium regime where the signal susceptibility diverges while the quantum noise periodically recedes to its coherent baseline. We exploit this ``noise ebbing'' to create a built-in noiseless amplifier, demonstrating a 3.3 dB metrological gain over the SQL in an atomic magnetometer. Our implementation exhibits intrinsic robustness against common experimental imperfections such as detection losses, establishing non-equilibrium critical dynamics as a practical and versatile paradigm for surpassing the fundamental limits of quantum sensing.
The sensitivity of quantum sensors is fundamentally constrained by the standard quantum limit (SQL) arising from intrinsic quantum fluctuations. While non-classical resources like squeezing or entanglement can surpass this limit, their utility is often restricted by the extreme fragility of entangled states and the complexity of their preparation. Quantum criticality offers a compelling alternative by harnessing divergent susceptibility to amplify signals without requiring fragile non-classical resources. However, the practical benefit of this approach has remained controversial due to the potential for the simultaneous amplification of quantum noise. Here, we demonstrate a universal protocol for noiseless critical sensing by engineering a light-driven atomic ensemble near a dynamical critical point. Analogous to a Kapitza pendulum near its inverted orientation, the spin system enters a non-equilibrium regime where the signal susceptibility diverges while the quantum noise periodically recedes to its coherent baseline. We exploit this ``noise ebbing'' to create a built-in noiseless amplifier, demonstrating a 3.3 dB metrological gain over the SQL in an atomic magnetometer. Our implementation exhibits intrinsic robustness against common experimental imperfections such as detection losses, establishing non-equilibrium critical dynamics as a practical and versatile paradigm for surpassing the fundamental limits of quantum sensing.
Quantum metrology protocols using entangled states of large spin ensembles attempt to achieve measurement sensitivities surpassing the standard quantum limit (SQL), but in many cases they are severely limited by even small amounts of technical noise associated with imperfect sensor readout. Amplification strategies based on time-reversed coherent spin-squeezing dynamics have been devised to mitigate this issue, but are unfortunately very sensitive to dissipation, requiring a large single-spin cooperativity to be effective. Here, we propose a new dissipative protocol that combines amplification and squeezed fluctuations. It enables the use of entangled spin states for sensing well beyond the SQL even in the presence of significant readout noise. Further, it has a strong resilience against undesired single-spin dissipation, requiring only a large collective cooperativity to be effective.
Non-Hermitian systems have emerged as a powerful paradigm for ultrasensitive sensing, leveraging unique spectral and dynamical properties unmatched in Hermitian physics. While recent theoretical bounds suggest these protocols offer no metrological advantage over Hermitian ones in the ideal shot-noise-limited regime when rigorously accounting for the success probability of non-unitary evolution, their practical utility in realistic experimental conditions has not yet been systematically explored. In this work, we shift the focus toward practical laboratory performance and demonstrate that non-Hermitian sensing protocols can significantly outperform their Hermitian counterparts in the presence of pervasive classical technical noises. This performance gain mainly stems from a strongly enhanced susceptibility that amplifies the signal response, effectively overcoming the precision floor imposed by technical imperfections. By numerically evaluating the Fisher information under technical noise, we further substantiate the regimes where non-Hermitian platforms yield definitive practical gains. Our results reconcile the ongoing debate between fundamental limits and experimental observations, offering a concrete avenue for building high-precision, noise-resilient sensors.
Exploiting quantum features allows for estimating external parameters with precision well beyond the capacity of classical sensors, a phenomenon known as quantum-enhanced precision. Quantum criticality has been identified as a resource for achieving such enhancements with respect to the probe size. However, such protocols demand complex probe preparation and measurement, and the achievable enhancement is ultimately restricted to narrow parameter regimes. On the other hand, non-equilibrium probes harness dynamics, enabling quantum-enhanced precision with respect to time over a wide range of parameters through simple probe initialization. Here, we unify these approaches through a Stark-Wannier localization platform, where competition between a linear gradient field and particle tunneling enables quantum-enhanced sensitivity across an extended parameter regime. The probe is implemented on a 9-qubit superconducting quantum device, in both single- and double-excitation subspaces, where we explore its performance in the extended phase, the critical point and the localized phase. Despite employing only computational-basis measurements, we have been able to achieve near-Heisenberg-limited precision by combining outcomes at distinct evolution times. In addition, we demonstrate that the performance of the probe in the entire extended phase significantly outperforms the performance in the localized regime. Our results highlight Stark-Wannier systems as versatile platforms for quantum sensing, where the combination of criticality and non-equilibrium dynamics enhances precision over a wide range of parameters without stringent measurement requirements.
Achieving measurement precision beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL) is a fundamental object in quantum metrology. In this manuscript, we propose a streamlined protocol for weak signal sensing in a trapped-ion spin-oscillator system that simultaneously exploits detuned motional squeezing and spin-oscillator entanglement. By combining these two quantum resources, the phase accumulation in this spin system is significantly accelerated, as a result achieving an exponential improvement in the sensitivity over unsqueezed cases. Remarkably, we show that the significant metrological gain provided by our protocol persists in noisy environments, with the sensitivity remaining below the SQL. In particular, our protocol retains a distinct advantage in the short interrogation time regime, thus demonstrating the practical potential in quantum-enhanced sensing.
Quantum metrology fundamentally relies upon the efficient management of quantum uncertainties. We show that under equilibrium conditions the management of quantum noise becomes extremely flexible around the quantum critical point of a quantum many-body system: this is due to the critical divergence of quantum fluctuations of the order parameter, which, via Heisenberg's inequalities, may lead to the critical suppression of the fluctuations in conjugate observables. Taking the quantum Ising model as the paradigmatic incarnation of quantum phase transitions, we show that it exhibits quantum critical squeezing of one spin component, providing a scaling for the precision of interferometric parameter estimation which, in dimensions d>2, lies in between the standard quantum limit and the Heisenberg limit. Quantum critical squeezing saturates the maximum metrological gain allowed by the quantum Fisher information in d=∞ (or with infinite-range interactions) at all temperatures, and it approaches closely the bound in a broad range of temperatures in d=2 and 3. This demonstrates the immediate metrological potential of equilibrium many-body states close to quantum criticality, which are accessible, e.g., to atomic quantum simulators via elementary adiabatic protocols.
Quantum metrology protocols exploiting ensembles of N two-level systems and Ramsey-style measurements are ubiquitous.However, in many cases excess readout noise severely degrades the measurement sensitivity; in particular in sensors based on ensembles of solid-state defect spins.We present a dissipative "spin-amplification" protocol that allows us to dramatically improve the sensitivity of such schemes, even in the presence of realistic intrinsic dissipation and noise.Our method is based on exploiting collective (i.e., superradiant) spin decay, an effect that is usually seen as a nuisance because it limits spin-squeezing protocols.We show that our approach can allow a system with a highly imperfect spin readout to approach standard-quantum-limit-like scaling in N within a factor of 2, without needing to change the actual readout mechanism.Our ideas are compatible with several state-of-the-art experimental platforms where an ensemble of solid-state spins (NV centers, SiV centers) is coupled to a common microwave or mechanical mode.