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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: de Andrade, Rayssa B., Høgh, Anne Egholm, Spedalieri, Gaetana, Pirandola, Stefano, Berg-Sørensen, Kirstine, Gehring, Tobias, Andersen, Ulrik L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.12057
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author de Andrade, Rayssa B.
Høgh, Anne Egholm
Spedalieri, Gaetana
Pirandola, Stefano
Berg-Sørensen, Kirstine
Gehring, Tobias
Andersen, Ulrik L.
author_facet de Andrade, Rayssa B.
Høgh, Anne Egholm
Spedalieri, Gaetana
Pirandola, Stefano
Berg-Sørensen, Kirstine
Gehring, Tobias
Andersen, Ulrik L.
contents Rapid detection of bacterial growth is crucial in clinical, food safety, and environmental contexts, yet conventional optical methods are limited by noise and require hours of incubation. Here, we present the first experimental demonstration of a quantum-enhanced photometric measurement for early bacterial detection using squeezed light. By monitoring the optical absorbance of an Escherichia coli culture with a quantum probe, we achieve a sensitivity beyond the shot-noise limit, enabling identification of growth onset up to 30 minutes earlier than with a classical sensor. The noise reduction is validated through statistical modeling with a truncated Gaussian distribution and hypothesis testing, confirming earlier detection with low false-alarm rates. This work illustrates how quantum resources can improve real-time, non-invasive diagnostics. Our results pave the way for quantum-enhanced biosensors that accelerate detection of microbial growth and other biological processes without increasing photodamage.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_12057
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum-enhanced biosensing enables earlier detection of bacterial growth
de Andrade, Rayssa B.
Høgh, Anne Egholm
Spedalieri, Gaetana
Pirandola, Stefano
Berg-Sørensen, Kirstine
Gehring, Tobias
Andersen, Ulrik L.
Quantum Physics
Rapid detection of bacterial growth is crucial in clinical, food safety, and environmental contexts, yet conventional optical methods are limited by noise and require hours of incubation. Here, we present the first experimental demonstration of a quantum-enhanced photometric measurement for early bacterial detection using squeezed light. By monitoring the optical absorbance of an Escherichia coli culture with a quantum probe, we achieve a sensitivity beyond the shot-noise limit, enabling identification of growth onset up to 30 minutes earlier than with a classical sensor. The noise reduction is validated through statistical modeling with a truncated Gaussian distribution and hypothesis testing, confirming earlier detection with low false-alarm rates. This work illustrates how quantum resources can improve real-time, non-invasive diagnostics. Our results pave the way for quantum-enhanced biosensors that accelerate detection of microbial growth and other biological processes without increasing photodamage.
title Quantum-enhanced biosensing enables earlier detection of bacterial growth
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.12057