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Published on: August 18, 2017
Quantum-elevated chiral discrimination for biomolecules
Yiquan Yang1,2,3, Xiaolong Hu1,2,3, Wei Du1,2,3
1School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
None:
Chiral discrimination of enantiomeric biomolecules is vital in chemistry, biology, and medicine. Conventional methods, relying on circularly polarized light, face weak chiroptical signals and potential photodamage. Despite extensive efforts to improve sensitivity under low-photon exposure, classical chiral probes remain fundamentally bound by the shot noise limit due to quantum fluctuations. To beat these limitations, we demonstrate quantum-elevated chiral discrimination using continuous-variable polarization-entangled states as moderate-photon flux, high-sensitivity, quantum noise-squeezed chiral probes. We achieve a 5-decibel improvement beyond the shot noise limit in distinguishing l- and d-amino acids in liquid phase. This nondestructive, biocompatible protocol enables high-sensitivity chiral analysis, with broad implications for drug development, biochemical research, environmental monitoring, and asymmetric synthesis.
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