a system for and method of detecting and characterizing materials using entangled photons is presented . the material may be at a great distances from the detector and may be biological material , complex organic compounds , or inorganic chemicals . the disclosed system and method provide advantages over traditional techniques in that they are largely impervious to atmospheric reduction of probing radiation and in that less probing radiation is required . the reduced probe energy requirement allows for detecting and characterizing sensitive material with significantly reduced material bleaching compared with traditional techniques .