Minimal-noise estimation of noncommuting rotations of a spin

Abstract

We propose an analogue of $\text{SU}(1,1)$ interferometry to measure rotation of a spin by using two-spin squeezed states. Attainability of the Heisenberg limit for the estimation of the rotation angle is demonstrated for maximal squeezing. For a specific direction and strength an advantage in sensitivity for all equatorial rotation axes (and hence non-commuting rotations) over the classical bound is shown in terms of quadratic scaling of the single-parameter quantum Fisher information for the corresponding rotation angles. Our results provide a method for measuring magnetic fields in any direction in the $x$-$y$-plane with the same optimized initial state.