Abstract
The field of quantum sensing aims at improving the detection and estimation of classical parameters that are encoded in physical systems by resorting to quantum sources of light and quantum detection strategies. The same approach can be used to improve the current classical measurements that are performed on biological systems. Here we consider the scenario of two bacteria (E. coli and Salmonella) growing in a Luria Bertani broth and monitored by classical spectrophotometers. Their concentration can be related to the optical transmissivity via the Beer-Lambert-Bouguer's law and their growth curves can be described by means of Gompertz functions. Starting from experimental data points, we extrapolate the growth curves of the two bacteria and we study the theoretical performance that would be achieved with a quantum setup. In particular, we discuss how the bacterial growth can, in principle, be tracked by irradiating the samples with orders of magnitude fewer photons, identifying the clear superiority of quantum light in the early stages of growth. We then show the superiority and the limits of quantum resources in two basic tasks: (i) the early detection of bacterial growth and (ii) the early discrimination between two bacteria species.
Highlights
Growth curves are found in a wide range of disciplines, such as fishery research, crop science, and other areas of biology [1]
We have explored the potentialities of a quantum-enhanced model of spectrophotometer in detecting and tracking bacterial growth in samples
Starting from experimental growth curves of two bacteria, E. coli and Salmonella, we simulate the theoretical performance achievable by a quantum design that is based on an input source, semiclassical or truly quantum, combined with an optimal quantum measurement at the output
Summary
Growth curves are found in a wide range of disciplines, such as fishery research, crop science, and other areas of biology [1]. Collecting experimental data with standard spectrophotometers, first we study the typical realistic errors affecting these classical instruments in tracking the growth of bacterial species (E. coli and Salmonella) From this data, we extrapolate the functional forms of the bacterial growth curves, which are used in our theoretical simulation of an optimal quantum setup. One needs to consider coherent states irradiating a relatively high mean number of photons per readout (e.g., of the order of 104) This source is studied in combination with an optimal quantum detection at the output. Our results show that the use of truly quantum states is limited to low concentrations, i.e., during the early phase of bacterial growth Considering this initial phase and assuming a small number of photons irradiated over the sample, the performance of optimal quantum states in estimating the concentration clearly outperforms the semiclassical benchmark based on coherent states.
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