  We address several estimation problems in quantum optics by means of the
maximum-likelihood principle. We consider Gaussian state estimation and the
determination of the coupling parameters of quadratic Hamiltonians. Moreover,
we analyze different schemes of phase-shift estimation. Finally, the absolute
estimation of the quantum efficiency of both linear and avalanche
photodetectors is studied. In all the considered applications, the Gaussian
bound on statistical errors is attained with a few thousand data.
