In this work we investigate the quantum dynamics of three different configurations of nonlinear cavity systems. We begin by carrying out a quantum analysis of a dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) mechanical displacement detector comprising a SQUID with a mechanically compliant loop segment. The SQUID is approximated by a nonlinear current-dependent inductor, inducing an external flux tunable nonlinear Duffing term in the cavity equation of motion. Expressions are derived for the detector signal and noise response where it is found that a soft-spring Duffing self-interaction enables a closer approach to the displacement detection standard quantum limit, as well as cooling closer to the ground state. Next, we consider the use of a superconducting transmission line formed from an array of dc-SQUIDs for investigating analogue Hawking radiation. We will show that biasing the array with a space-time varying flux modifies the propagation velocity of the transmission line, leading to an effective metric with a horizon. As a fundamentally quantum mechanical device, this setup allows for investigations of quantum effects such as backreaction and analogue space-time fluctuations on the Hawking process. Finally, we investigate a quantum parametric amplifier with dynamical pump mode, viewed as a zero-dimensional model of Hawking radiation from an evaporating black hole. The conditions are derived under which the spectrum of particles generated from vacuum fluctuations deviates from the thermal spectrum predicted for the conventional parametric amplifier. We find that significant deviation occurs once the pump mode (black hole) has released nearly half of its initial energy in the signal (Hawking radiation) and idler (in-falling particle) modes. As a model of black hole dynamics, this finding lends support to the view that late-time Hawking radiation contains information about the quantum state of the black hole and is entangled with the black hole's quantum gravitational degrees of freedom.