  We address the use of a single qubit as a quantum probe to characterize the
properties of classical noise. In particular, we focus on the characterization
of classical noise arising from the interaction with a stochastic field
described by Gaussian processes. The tools of quantum estimation theory allow
us to find the optimal state preparation for the probe, the optimal interaction
time with the external noise, and the optimal measurement to effectively
extract information on the noise parameter. We also perform a set of simulated
experiments to assess the performances of maximum likelihood estimator, showing
that the asymptotic regime, where the estimator is unbiased and efficient, is
approximately achieved after few thousands repeated measurements on the probe
system.
