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arXiv:1402.2602 · New Journal of Physics

Communication with spatially modulated light through turbulent air across Vienna

Mario Krenn, Robert Fickler, Matthias Fink, Johannes Handsteiner, Mehul Malik, Thomas Scheidl, Rupert Ursin, Anton Zeilinger

Published Nov 11, 2014• 553 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Transverse spatial modes of light offer a large state-space with interesting physical properties. For exploiting these special modes in future long-distance experiments, the modes will have to be transmitted over turbulent free-space links. Numerous recent lab-scale experiments have found significant degradation in the mode quality after transmission through simulated turbulence and consecutive coherent detection. Here, we experimentally analyze the transmission of one prominent class of spatial modes—orbital-angular momentum (OAM) modes—through 3 km of strong turbulence over the city of Vienna. Instead of performing a coherent phase-dependent measurement, we employ an incoherent detection scheme, which relies on the unambiguous intensity patterns of the different spatial modes. We use a pattern recognition algorithm (an artificial neural network) to identify the characteristic mode patterns displayed on a screen at the receiver. We were able to distinguish between 16 different OAM mode superpositions with only a ∼1.7% error rate and to use them to encode and transmit small grayscale images. Moreover, we found that the relative phase of the superposition modes is not affected by the atmosphere, establishing the feasibility for performing long-distance quantum experiments with the OAM of photons. Our detection method works for other classes of spatial modes with unambiguous intensity patterns as well, and can be further improved by modern techniques of pattern recognition.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113028

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Transverse spatial modes of light offer a large state-space with interesting physical properties. For exploiting these special modes in future long-distance experiments, the modes will have to be transmitted over turbulent free-space links. Numerous recent lab-scale experiments have found significant degradation in the mode quality after transmission through simulated turbulence and consecutive coherent detection. Here, we experimentally analyze the transmission of one prominent class of spatial modes—orbital-angular momentum (OAM) modes—through 3 km of strong turbulence over the city of Vienna. Instead of performing a coherent phase-dependent measurement, we employ an incoherent detection scheme, which relies on the unambiguous intensity patterns of the different spatial modes. We use a pattern recognition algorithm (an artificial neural network) to identify the characteristic mode patterns displayed on a screen at the receiver. We were able to distinguish between 16 different OAM mode superpositions with only a ∼1.7% error rate and to use them to encode and transmit small grayscale images. Moreover, we found that the relative phase of the superposition modes is not affected by the atmosphere, establishing the feasibility for performing long-distance quantum experiments with the OAM of photons. Our detection method works for other classes of spatial modes with unambiguous intensity patterns as well, and can be further improved by modern techniques of pattern recognition.
Spatial modes of light can potentially carry a vast amount of information, making them promising candidates for both classical and quantum communication. However, the distribution of such modes over large distances remains difficult. Intermodal coupling complicates their use with common fibers, whereas free-space transmission is thought to be strongly influenced by atmospheric turbulence. Here, we show the transmission of orbital angular momentum modes of light over a distance of 143 km between two Canary Islands, which is 50× greater than the maximum distance achieved previously. As a demonstration of the transmission quality, we use superpositions of these modes to encode a short message. At the receiver, an artificial neural network is used for distinguishing between the different twisted light superpositions. The algorithm is able to identify different mode superpositions with an accuracy of more than 80% up to the third mode order and decode the transmitted message with an error rate of 8.33%. Using our data, we estimate that the distribution of orbital angular momentum entanglement over more than 100 km of free space is feasible. Moreover, the quality of our free-space link can be further improved by the use of state-of-the-art adaptive optics systems.
Photons with a twisted phase front can carry a discrete, in principle, unbounded amount of orbital angular momentum (OAM). The large state space allows for complex types of entanglement, interesting both for quantum communication and for fundamental tests of quantum theory. However, the distribution of such entangled states over large distances was thought to be infeasible due to influence of atmospheric turbulence, indicating a serious limitation on their usefulness. Here we show that it is possible to distribute quantum entanglement encoded in OAM over a turbulent intracity link of 3 km. We confirm quantum entanglement of the first two higher-order levels (with OAM=± 1ħ and ± 2ħ). They correspond to four additional quantum channels orthogonal to all that have been used in long-distance quantum experiments so far. Therefore, a promising application would be quantum communication with a large alphabet. We also demonstrate that our link allows access to up to 11 quantum channels of OAM. The restrictive factors toward higher numbers are technical limitations that can be circumvented with readily available technologies.
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons is a promising degree of freedom for high-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD). However, effectively mitigating the adverse effects of atmospheric turbulence is a persistent challenge in OAM QKD systems operating over free-space communication channels. In contrast to previous works focusing on correcting static simulated turbulence, we investigate the performance of OAM QKD in real atmospheric turbulence with real-time adaptive optics (AO) correction. We show that even though our AO system provides a limited correction, it is possible to mitigate the errors induced by weak turbulence and establish a secure channel. The crosstalk induced by turbulence and the performance of AO systems is investigated in two configurations: a lab-scale link with controllable turbulence, and a 340 m long cross-campus link with dynamic atmospheric turbulence. Our experimental results suggest that an advanced AO system with fine beam tracking, reliable beam stabilization, precise wavefront sensing, and accurate wavefront correction is necessary to adequately correct turbulence-induced error. We also propose and demonstrate different solutions to improve the performance of OAM QKD with turbulence, which could enable the possibility of OAM encoding in strong turbulence.
Free-space communication allows one to use spatial mode encoding, which is susceptible to the effects of diffraction and turbulence. Here, we discuss the optimum communication modes of a system while taking such effects into account. We construct a free-space communication system that encodes information onto the plane-wave (PW) modes of light. We study the performance of this system in the presence of atmospheric turbulence, and compare it with previous results for a system employing orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) encoding. We are able to show that the PW basis is the preferred basis set for communication through atmospheric turbulence for a system with a large Fresnel number product. This study has important implications for high-dimensional quantum key distribution systems.
Abstract In the last two decades, structured light patterns with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have been extensively utilized in quantum cryptography or quantum key distribution, which is generally considered an unconditionally secure method of secret key transmission between two distant communicating entities. High-dimensional encoding of quantum bits in quantum key distribution improves the security and information-carrying capability of a quantum signal. Significant degradation in the efficiency of such communication is observed due to the aberration of OAM states under atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the impact of atmospheric turbulence on the error-rates of quantum key distribution, which is considered the benchmark in analyzing the security of such communication over the quantum channel in the presence of an intruder (man-in-the-middle). Our results show that turbulence under normal conditions does not significantly affect the successful transmission of secret quantum bits between sender and receiver. Furthermore, we identify an interesting variation in the signature of error-rates to clearly detect the presence of an intruder as a result of medium-level turbulence.
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) state of light can potentially be used to implement higher dimensional entangled systems for quantum communication. Unfortunately, optical fibers in use today support only modes with zero OAM values. Free-space quantum communication is an alternative to traditional way of communicating through optical fibers. However the refractive index fluctuation of the atmosphere gives rise to random phase aberrations on a propagating optical beam. To transmit quantum information successfully through a free-space optical channel, one needs to understand how atmospheric turbulence influences quantum entanglement. Here, we present a numerical study of the evolution of quantum entanglement between a pair of qubits. The qubits consist of photons entangled in the OAM basis. The photons propagate in a turbulent atmosphere modeled by a series of consecutive phase screens based on the Kolmogorov theory of turbulence. Maximally entangled initial states are considered, and the concurrence is used as a measure of entanglement. We show how the evolution of entanglement is influenced by various parameters such as the beam waist, the strength of the turbulence and the wavelength of the beam. We restricted our analysis to the OAM values l = ±1 and we compared our results to previous work.