Optimal quantum parameter estimation of two interacting qubits under decoherence

Abstract

We investigate the parameter estimation problem in a two-qubit system, in which each qubit is independently interacting with its Markovian environment. We study in detail the sensitivity of the estimation on the decoherence rate $\gamma$ and the two-qubit interaction strength $v$. In particular, the dynamics of quantum Fisher information are employed as a measure to quantify the precision of the estimations. We find that the quantum Fisher information with respect to the decoherence rate scales like $t^2/[\exp(\gamma t)-1]$ and $\exp(-2\gamma t)$ in the unitary limit and the completely decoherent limit, respectively. When we estimate the interaction strength $v$, the quantum Fisher information shows oscillation behavior in term of time. In addition, our results provide further evidence that the entanglement of the input state may not enhance quantum metrology.