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arXiv:1905.01089 · Journal of Modern Optics

Photon statistics of twisted heralded single photons

Nijil Lal, Anindya Banerji, Ayan Biswas, Ali Anwar, Ravindra Pratap Singh

Published Dec 12, 2019• 5 citations
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Abstract

We study the correlation properties of single photons carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) in a Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) type experiment. We have characterized single photon sources obtained by pumping a nonlinear crystal with a laser beam carrying different OAM under same experimental conditions. For twisted heralded single photons carrying OAM, we calculate g(2)(0), a measurable parameter characterizing the quality of a single photon source, and observe an increment with the OAM of the single photon. The single photon behaviour of the heralded photons is observed to be reducing with higher orders of their OAM. An OAM-dependent variation of the photon statistics will be relevant to quantum information experiments involving twisted heralded single photons.

DOI
10.1080/09500340.2019.1699180

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We study the correlation properties of single photons carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) in a Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) type experiment. We have characterized single photon sources obtained by pumping a nonlinear crystal with a laser beam carrying different OAM under same experimental conditions. For twisted heralded single photons carrying OAM, we calculate g(2)(0), a measurable parameter characterizing the quality of a single photon source, and observe an increment with the OAM of the single photon. The single photon behaviour of the heralded photons is observed to be reducing with higher orders of their OAM. An OAM-dependent variation of the photon statistics will be relevant to quantum information experiments involving twisted heralded single photons.
A heralded single-photon source (HSPS) with competitive single-photon purity and indistinguishability has become an essential resource for photonic quantum information processing. Here we propose a theoretical regime to enhance heralded single-photon generation by multiplexing the degree of freedom of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of down-converted entangled photon pairs emitted from a nonlinear crystal. Experimentally, a proof-of-principle experiment is performed through multiplexing three OAM modes. We achieve a 4747%47 enhancement in the single-photon rate. A second-order autocorrelation function g(2)(0)<0.5{g}^{(2)}(0)<0.5g(2)(0)<0.5 ensures our multiplexed heralded single photons with good single-photon purity. We further indicate that an OAM-multiplexed HSPS with high quality can be constructed by generating higher-dimensional entangled states and sorting them with high efficiency in OAM space. Our method may approach a good HSPS with the deterministic property.
We report on an imaging-inspired measurement of orbital angular momentum (OAM) using only a simple tilted lens and an intensified charged coupled device camera, allowing us to monitor the propagation of OAM structured photons over distance, which is crucial for free-space quantum communication networks. We demonstrate the measurement of OAM orders as high as ls = 14 in a heralded single-photon source and show, for the first time, the imaged self-interference of photons carrying OAM in a modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The described methods reveal both the charge and order of a photon's OAM and provide a proof of concept for the interference of a single OAM photon with itself. Using these tools, we are able to study the propagation characteristics of OAM photons over a distance, which is important for estimating transport in free-space quantum links. By translating these classical tools into the quantum domain, we offer a robust and direct approach for the complete characterization of a twisted single-photon source, an important building block of a quantum network.
Optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) is a special property of photons and has evoked research onto the light–matter interaction in both classical and quantum regimes. In classical optics, OAM is related to an optical vortex with a helical phase structure. In quantum optics, photons with a twisted or helical phase structure will carry a quantized OAM. To our knowledge, however, so far, no experiment has demonstrated the fundamental property of the OAM at the single-photon level. In this Letter, we have demonstrated the average photon trajectories of twisted photons in a double-slit interference. We have experimentally captured the double-slit interference process of twisted photons by a time-gated intensified charge-coupled device camera, which is trigged by a heralded detection. Our work provides new perspectives for understanding the micro-behaviors of twisted particles and enables new applications in imaging and sensing.
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) carried by photons defines an infinitely dimensional discrete Hilbert space. With OAM modes, high-dimensional quantum states can be achieved for quantum communication and cryptography. Here we demonstrate a heralded single-photon source with a switchable OAM mode, which consists of a heralded single-photon source and an integrated OAM emitter as the mode converter. As the first step, the heralded single-photon source is based on the dispersion-shifted fiber. In this work, the OAM mode (quantized by topological charge l ) carried by the heralded single photon (at fixed wavelength of 1555.75 nm) can be switched within the range of l = 3 – 7 while the mode purity is more than 80%.