Spin-bath narrowing with adaptive parameter estimation

We present a measurement scheme capable of achieving the quantum limit of parameter estimation using an adaptive strategy that minimizes the parameter's variance at each step. The adaptive rule we propose makes the scheme robust against errors, in particular imperfect readouts, a critical requirement to extend adaptive schemes from quantum optics to solid-state sensors. Thanks to recent advances in single-shot readout capabilities for electronic spins in the solid state (such as nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond), this scheme can also be applied to estimate the polarization of a spin bath coupled to the sensor spin. In turns, the measurement process decreases the entropy of the spin bath resulting in longer coherence times of the sensor spin.United States. Army Research Office (MURI Grant No. W911NF-11-1-0400