Quantum multiparameter metrology with generalized entangled coherent state

Abstract: We propose a generalized form of entangled coherent states (ECS) and apply them in a multi-arm optical interferometer to estimate multiple phase shifts. We obtain the quantum Cramer-Rao bounds for both the linear and nonlinear parameterization protocols. Through the analysis, we find that, utilizing the simultaneous estimation, this generalized form of ECS gives a better precision than the generalized NOON states [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{111}, 070403 (2013)]. Moreover, comparing with the independent estimation, both the linear and nonlinear protocols have the same advantage in the relation to the number of the parameters.