Photon number states are assigned a parity of if their photon number is even and a parity of if odd. The parity operator, which is minus one to the power of the photon number operator, is a Hermitian operator and thus a quantum mechanical observable though it has no classical analog, the concept being meaningless in the context of classical light waves. In this paper we review work on the application of the parity operator to the problem of quantum metrology for the detection of small phase shifts with quantum optical interferometry using highly entangled field states such as the so-called N00N states, and states obtained by injecting twin Fock states into a beam splitter. With such states and with the performance of parity measurements on one of the output beams of the interferometer, one can breach the standard quantum limit, or shot-noise limit, of sensitivity down to the Heisenberg limit, the greatest degree of phase sensitivity allowed by quantum mechanics for linear phase shifts. Heisenberg limit sensitivities are expected to eventually play an important role in attempts to detect gravitational waves in interferometric detection systems such as LIGO and VIRGO.Comment: to be published in Contemporary Physic

After reviewing parity measurement based interferometry with twin-Fock states, which allows for super-sensitivity (Heisenberg-limited) and super-resolution, we consider interferometry with two different superpositions of twin-Fock states, namely two-mode squeezed vacuum states and pair coherent states. This study is motivated by the experimental challenge of producing twin-Fock states on opposite sides of a beam splitter. We find that input two-mode squeezed states, while allowing for Heisenberglimited sensitivity, do not yield super-resolutions, whereas we that find both are possible with input pair coherent states.

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