The formalism of quantum estimation theory, focusing on the quantum and classical Fisher information, is applied to the estimation of the coupling strength in an optomechanical system. In order to estimate the optomechanical coupling, we have considered a cavity optomechanical model with non-Markovian Brownian motion of the mirror and employed input-output formalism to obtain the cavity output field. Our estimation scenario is based on balanced homodyne photodetection of the cavity output field. We have explored the difference between the associated measurement-dependent classical Fisher information and the quantum Fisher information, thus addressing the question of whether it is possible to reach the lower bound of the mean-squared error of an unbiased estimator by means of balanced homodyne detection. We have found that the phase of the local oscillator in the homodyne detection is crucial; certain quadrature measurements allow very accurate estimation.

• Received 12 February 2020
• Revised 3 June 2020
• Accepted 15 June 2020
• Corrected 7 January 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.013508