Recently, Gerry et al. [Phys. Rev. A 79, 022111 (2009)] studied the violation of the Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality for two-spin systems, prepared in an entanglement of spin-coherent states, the so-called entangled spin-coherent states (ESCSs), and found maximal violations for a large class of states. In this paper, using the Holstein-Primakoff realization (HPR) of angular momentum algebra, we present an improved phase estimation scheme employing ESCSs and demonstrate that increasing the spin number gives the smallest variance in the phase parameter in comparison to NOON states under perfect and lossy conditions. The phase sensitivity of this interferometric scheme with parity detection on one of the output states is discussed.

The quantum correlations between a qubit and its environment are described quantitatively in terms of interatomic distance. Specifically, considering a realistic system of two two-level atoms and taking into account the dipole-dipole interaction and collective damping, the quantum entanglement and quantum discord are investigated during the dissipative process as functions of the interatomic distance. For atoms that are initially maximally entangled, it turns out that there is a critical distance at which each atom is maximally quantum correlated with its environment. Counterintuitively, the approach of the two atoms can maximize the entanglement between each one and the environment and, even at the same distance, minimize the loss of entanglement between the pair.