Ancilla-Free Quantum Error Correction Codes for Quantum Metrology

Quantum error correction has recently emerged as a tool to enhance quantum sensing under Markovian noise. It works by correcting errors in a sensor while letting a signal imprint on the logical state. This approach typically requires a specialized error-correcting code, as most existing codes correct away both the dominant errors and the signal. To date, however, few such specialized codes are known, among which most require noiseless, controllable ancillas. We show here that such ancillas are not needed when the signal Hamiltonian and the error operators commute, a common limiting type of decoherence in quantum sensors. We give a semidefinite program for finding optimal ancilla-free sensing codes in general, as well as closed-form codes for two common sensing scenarios: qubits undergoing dephasing, and a lossy bosonic mode. Finally, we analyze the sensitivity enhancement offered by the qubit code under arbitrary spatial noise correlations, beyond the ideal limit of orthogonal signal and noise operators.