Theoretical chapter devoted to the domain of parameter estimation by quantum measurements. It first details the implications of the Heisenberg inequality and gives the expression of the quantum Cramér–Rao bound, a limit that is optimized over all data processing strategies and measurements on a given parameter-dependent quantum state. Measurement optimization over different quantum states and different optical modes in which the quantum state is defined is also discussed in various situations. The chapter then focusses on the measurement-induced perturbation bydiscussing the Heisenberg microscope and the Ozawa inequality, then on different implementations of quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements using the crossed-Kerr effect in quantum optics and opto-mechanics.

Appendix K: this appendix is an introduction to another very active and promising domain of quantum physics, named circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED), dealing with the quantum properties of macroscopic objects consisting of superconducting electrical circuits. In an LC circuit the energy is quantized, and charge and flux are two quantum canonical conjugate quantities that do not commute. Their quantum fluctuations are bound by a Heisenberg inequality. A Josephson junction inserted in the circuit introduces strong nonlinearities in the system, which breaks the equidistance between the energy levels and makes the circuit look like a qubit, called a transmon. Cooling at mK temperatures is necessary to have quantum effects dominate over thermal effects. The circuit is embedded in a resonant cavity, and the system bears many analogies with cavity QED and Jaynes–Cummings formalism for coupled photons and atoms. One can perform nondestructive read-out and control of the transmon, as well as phase-sensitive, quantum-limited amplification, with nonlinearities that are much stronger than the ones used in quantum optics.