Critical quantum metrology in the output of an optical parametric oscillator
Many quantum sensors infer parameters from continuously emitted fields, yet in the presence of unmonitored loss, it is difficult to determine how much critical enhancement survives in the accessible output. In this work, we calculate the full frequency-resolved output quantum Fisher information (QFI) of a stationary vacuum-seeded optical parametric oscillator for cavity-detuning estimation. We show that, for any fixed nonzero unmonitored loss, the QFI of correlated sideband pairs grows quadratically with the mean intracavity photon number near threshold, but only within a spectral window that narrows inversely with that number; consequently, the spectrum-integrated output QFI rate scales asymptotically only linearly. We identify a far-detuned, near-threshold regime in which the monitored output alone asymptotically approaches the loss-imposed upper bound on the joint cavity-output QFI. We further determine the operating points that maximize the output QFI rate per intracavity photon and introduce a frequency-resolved homodyne strategy that maximizes the Fisher information obtainable from a single record. Our results establish an operational connection between critical enhancement and metrological information accessible in the output field, while providing concrete guidance for the design and readout of dissipative parametric sensors.