The quantum Rabi model (QRM) with linear coupling between light mode and qubit exhibits the analog of a second-order phase transition for vanishing mode frequency which allows for criticality-enhanced quantum metrology in a few-body system. We show that the QRM including a nonlinear coupling term exhibits much higher measurement precisions due to its first-order-like phase transition at finite frequency, avoiding the detrimental slowing-down effect close to the critical point of the linear QRM. When a bias term is added to the Hamiltonian, the system can be used as a fluxmeter or magnetometer if implemented in circuit QED platforms.

The superradiant phase transition (SPT) has been widely studied in cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED). However, this SPT is still subject to ongoing debates due to the no-go theorem induced by the so-called ${\mathbf{A}}^2$ term (AT). We propose a hybrid quantum system, consisting of a single-mode cavity simultaneously coupled to both a two-level system and yttrium-iron-garnet sphere supporting magnons with Kerr nonlinearity, to restore the SPT against the AT. The Kerr magnons here can effectively introduce an additional AT tunable and strong enough to counteract the intrinsic AT, via adiabatically eliminating the degrees of freedom of the magnons. We show that the Kerr-magnon-induced SPT can exist in both cases of ignoring and including the intrinsic AT. Without the intrinsic AT, the critical coupling strength can be dramatically reduced by introducing the Kerr magnons, which greatly relaxes the experimental conditions for observing the SPT. With the intrinsic AT, the forbidden SPT can be recovered with the Kerr magnons in a reversed way. Our work paves a potential way to manipulate the SPT against the AT in hybrid systems combining CQED and nonlinear magnonics.

Squeezed spin states have important applications in quantum metrology and sensing. It has been shown by Sørensen and Mølmer [ Phys. Rev. A 66, 022314 (2002)] that an effective one-axis-twisting interaction can be realized in a cavity setup via a double off-resonance stimulated Raman scattering, resulting in a noise reduction scaling $\propto 1/N^{2/3}$ with $N$ being the atom number. Here, we show that, by making an appropriate change of the initial input spin state, it is possible to produce a one-axis-twisting spin squeezing via a single off-resonance stimulated Raman scattering, which thus can greatly simplify the realistic implementation. We also show that the one-axis-twisting interaction can be transformed into a more efficient two-axis-twisting interaction by rotating the collective spin while coupling to the cavity, yielding a Heisenberg limited noise reduction $\propto 1/N$. Considering the noise effects due to atomic decoherence and cavity decay, we find that substantial squeezing is still attainable with current laboratory techniques.

We propose an efficient method for dissipative generation of magnonic cat states in a cavity-magnon-qubit hybrid system by exploiting a two-magnon driving and dissipation mechanism. When both the magnon and qubit are driven, a coherent nonlinear two-magnon interaction is induced, wherein the qubit and the magnon mode exchange energy through magnon pairs. The dissipation of the qubit is exploited to steer the magnon mode into a quantum superposition of distinct coherent states, where the magnon mode evolves into either an even or odd cat state, depending on the parity of the magnon initial state. For the case where the magnon initial state is a superposition state, e.g., of |0⟩ and |1⟩, the magnon mode can evolve into a weighted mixture of the even and odd cat states. We also find that magnon squeezed states may emerge during the short-time evolution, showcasing the capability of our mechanism in preparing diverse magnon nonclassical states. Magnonic cat and squeezed states are macroscopic quantum states and have applications in macroscopic quantum studies and quantum sensing, e.g., in the dark-matter search using ferromagnetic axion haloscopes.