Phase estimation via a number-conserving operation inside a SU(1,1) interferometer

Utilizing nonlinear elements, SU(1,1) interferometers demonstrate superior phase sensitivity compared to passive interferometers. However, the precision is significantly impacted by photon losses, particularly internal losses. We propose a theoretical scheme to improve the precision of phase measurement using homodyne detection by implementing a number-conserving operation (NCO), i.e., $a{a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ and ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}a$, inside the SU(1,1) interferometer, with the coherent state and the vacuum state as the input states. We analyze the effects of the NCO on the phase sensitivity, the quantum Fisher information (QFI), and the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound under both ideal and photon-loss scenarios. Our findings reveal that the internal non-Gaussian operations can enhance the phase sensitivity and the QFI and effectively improve the robustness of the SU(1,1) interferometer against internal photon losses. Notably, the ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}a$ scheme exhibits superior improvement in both the ideal and photon-loss cases in terms of phase sensitivity. Moreover, in the ideal case, the $a{a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ scheme slightly outperforms the ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}a$ scheme in terms of the QFI. However, in the presence of high photon losses, the ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}a$ scheme demonstrates a greater advantage.