Quantum-Enhanced Sensing Enabled by Scrambling-Induced Genuine Multipartite Entanglement
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 210801 – Published 27 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wb5z-y5y5
Abstract
Quantum sensing leverages quantum resources to surpass the standard quantum limit, yet many existing protocols rely on the preparation of complex entangled states and Hamiltonian engineering, posing challenges for universality and scalability. Here, we report an experimental implementation of a universal butterfly metrology protocol, proposed in Kobrin et al. [A universal protocol for quantum-enhanced sensing via information scrambling, arXiv:2411.12794.] demonstrating a scrambling-based approach for quantum-enhanced sensing on a superconducting quantum processor. By exploiting many-body information scrambling, we observe quantum-enhanced phase sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit, with a scaling consistent with a factor of 2 of the Heisenberg limit for system sizes of up to 10 qubits after a normalization process. Importantly, we experimentally establish a connection between the enhanced sensitivity and the dynamics of the out-of-time-order correlator, and show that the buildup of scrambling-induced genuine multipartite entanglement underlies the observed sensitivity enhancement. Our results demonstrate a scalable approach for quantum-enhanced sensing in interacting many-body quantum systems.
