Super-Heisenberg scaling of the quantum Fisher information using spin-motion states

Abstract: We propose a spin-motion state for high-precision quantum metrology with super-Heisenberg scaling of the parameter estimation uncertainty using a trapped ion system. Such a highly entangled state can be created using the Tavis-Cummings Hamiltonian which describes the interaction between a collective spin system and a single vibrational mode. Our method relies on an adiabatic evolution in which the initial motional squeezing is adiabatically transferred into collective spin squeezing. In the weak squeezing regime, we show that the adiabatic evolution creates a spin-squeezed state, which reduces the quantum projective noise to a sub-shot noise limit. For strong bosonic squeezing we find that the quantum Fisher information follows a super-Heisenberg scaling law $\propto N^{5/2}$ in terms of the number of ions $N$. Furthermore, we discuss the spin squeezing parameter which quantifies the phase sensitivity enhancement in Ramsey spectroscopic measurements and show that it also exhibits a super-Heisenberg scaling with $N$. Our work enables the development of high-precision quantum metrology based on entangled spin-boson states that lead to faster scaling of the parameter estimation uncertainty with the number of spins.