Quantum entanglement is a fundamental trait of quantum mechanics that causes the information about the properties of two (or more) objects to be inextricably linked. When a measurement on one of the objects is performed, the state of the other object is immediately altered, even when these objects are separated at arbitrary distances. In this thesis, we explore the rich properties of entanglement in a high-dimensional mode space. Experimentally, we have implemented the high dimensionality by use of the orbital-angular-momentum degree of freedom of entangled photon pairs. The emphasis is on the question how to quantify the dimensionality of the entanglement as measured in an experiment. We introduce the Shannon dimensionality as a useful quantifier of measured entanglement. Furthermore, we discuss various production methods of optical phase plates, which we use to manipulate the orbital-angular-momentum states of light. Finally, we present an experimental feasibility study on the potential of orbital-angular-momentum entanglement for free-space quantum communication through the atmosphere
Quantum entanglement is a fundamental trait of quantum mechanics that causes the information about the properties of two (or more) objects to be inextricably linked. When a measurement on one of the objects is performed, the state of the other object is immediately altered, even when these objects are separated at arbitrary distances. In this thesis, we explore the rich properties of entanglement in a high-dimensional mode space. Experimentally, we have implemented the high dimensionality by use of the orbital-angular-momentum degree of freedom of entangled photon pairs. The emphasis is on the question how to quantify the dimensionality of the entanglement as measured in an experiment. We introduce the Shannon dimensionality as a useful quantifier of measured entanglement. Furthermore, we discuss various production methods of optical phase plates, which we use to manipulate the orbital-angular-momentum states of light. Finally, we present an experimental feasibility study on the potential of orbital-angular-momentum entanglement for free-space quantum communication through the atmosphere
Introduction In this chapter, we will be concerned with entangled states of light. Historically, quantum states of light, i.e., photons, have played a dominant role in the experimental study of quantum entanglement. For instance, the first Bell tests and the first realizations of quantum teleportation were performed using two-dimensional polarization-entangled twophoton states [3]. From an experimental point of view these states are readily prepared and manipulated using conventional polarization optics. Recently, however, both theoretical and experimental efforts have shifted towards entanglement in more than two modes , which is often referred to as high-dimensional entanglement. This is much richer than two-dimensional entanglement, as is, for instance, reflected in stronger violations of various measures of nonlocality which reveal the complexity of high-dimensional Hilbert spaces [4–7]. Also, from an applications perspective, it promises a larger channel capacity [8, 9] and improved security for quantum communication [10, 11]. There are several ways to implement high-dimensional two-photon entanglement. One can exploit the temporal [12], frequency [13], or spatial [14–18] degrees of freedom of the optical field. A promising way to implement high-dimensional two-photon entanglement is to use the orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) degree of freedom of light. Light beams that carry OAM have a helical wavefront that spirals around the optical axis during propagation [19]. The winding number m , which characterizes the OAM eigenmodes, can adopt any integer value between −∞ and ∞; since all coaxial OAM modes are orthogonal they can thus span a very high-dimensional Hilbert space.
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) is one of the most recently discovered properties of light, and it is only in the past decade its quantum properties have been the subject of experimental investigations and have found applications. Unlike polarization, which is only bidimensional, orbital angular momentum provides, with relative ease, unprecedented access to a theoretically unbounded discrete state space. The process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion has long been used as a source of two-photon states that can be entangled in several degrees of freedom, including OAM. In this thesis, the properties of the natural OAM spectrum associated with the entangled states produced by parametric down-conversion were investigated. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the production and detection of tunable high-dimensional OAM entanglement in a down-conversion system. By tuning the phase-matching conditions and improving the detection stage, a substantial increase in the half-width of the OAM correlation spectrum was observed. The conjugate variable of OAM, angular position, was also considered when examining high-dimensional states entangled in OAM. In order to efficiently determine their dimension, high-dimensional entangled states were probed by implementing a technique based on phase masks composed of multiple angular sectors, as opposed to narrow single-sector analysers. Presented in chapter 4, this technique allows the measurements of tight angular correlations while maintaining high optical throughput. The states so produced were then used for a number of applications centred around the concept of mutually unbiased bases. One can define sets of mutually unbiased bases for arbitrary subspaces of the OAM state space. Two bases are mutually unbiased if the measurement of a state in one basis provides no information about the state as described in the other basis. Complete measurements in mutually unbiased bases of high-dimensional OAM spaces are presented in chapter 5. Measurements in sets of mutually unbiased bases are integral to quantum science and can be used in a variety of protocols that fully exploit the large size of the OAM state space; we describe their use in efficient quantum state tomography, quantum key distribution and entanglement detection. Caution is however necessary when dealing with state spaces embedded in higher-dimensional spaces, such as that provided by OAM. Experimental tests of Bell-type inequalities allow us to rule out local hidden variable theories in the description of quantum correlations. Correlations inconsistent with the states observed, or even with quantum mechanics, known as super-quantum correlations, have however been recorded previously in experiments that fail to comply with the fair-sampling conditions. Chapter 6 describes an experiment that uses a particular choice of transverse spatial modes for which super-quantum correlations persist even if the detection is made perfectly efficient. The sets of modes carrying OAM allow a complete description of the transverse field. The ability to control and combine additional degrees of freedom provides the possibility for richer varieties of entanglement and can make quantum protocols more powerful and versatile. One such property of light, associated with transverse modes possessing radial nodes in the field distribution, can be accessed within the same type of experimental apparatus used for OAM. In chapter 7, the radial degree of freedom is explored, together with OAM, in the context of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: High-dimensional quantum entanglement offers an increase in information capacity per photon; a highly desirable property for quantum information processes such as quantum communication, computation and teleportation. As the orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes of light span an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, they have become frontrunners in achieving entanglement in higher dimensions. In light of this, we investigate the potential of OAM entanglement of photons by controlling the parameters in both the generation and measurement systems. We show the experimental procedures and apparatus involved in generating and measuring entangled photons in two-dimensions. We verify important quantum tests such as the Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) paradox using OAM and angle correlations, as well as a violation of a Bell-type inequality. By performing a full state tomography, we characterise our quantum state and show we have a pure, highly entangled quantum state. We demonstrate that this method can be extended to higher dimensions. The experimental techniques used to generate and measure OAM entanglement place an upper bound on the number of accessible OAM modes. As such, we investigate new methods in which to increase the spiral bandwidth of our generated quantum state. We alter the shape of the pump beam in spontaneous parametric down-conversion and demonstrate an effect on both OAM and angle correlations. We also made changes to the measurement scheme by projecting the photon pairs into the Bessel-Gaussian (BG) basis and demonstrate entanglement in this basis. We show that this method allows the measured spiral bandwidth to be optimised by simply varying the continuous radial parameter of the BG modes. We demonstrate that BG modes can be entangled in higher dimensions compared with the commonly used helical modes by calculating and comparing the linear entropy and fidelity for both modes. We also show that quantum entanglement can be accurately simulated using classical light using back-projection, which allows the study of projective measurements and predicts the strength of the coincidence correlations in an entanglement experiment. Finally, we make use of each of the techniques to demonstrate the effect of a perturbation on OAM entanglement measured in the BG basis. We investigate the self-healing property of BG beams and show that the classical property is translated to the quantum regime. By calculating the concurrence, we see that measured entanglement recovers after encountering an obstruction.
We engineer high-dimensional orbital-angular-momentum entanglement of photon pairs that emerge from a parametric down-conversion source. By means of two angular state analysers, in essence composed of a rotatable multi-sector phase plate and a single-mode fibre, we perform selective projective measurements that maximize the Shannon dimensionality D of the measured entanglement. The multi-sector phase plates have a binary phase profile along the azimuthal coordinate, and the arc sector sizes are optimized so as to maximize D . We find that the maximum dimensionality increases linearly with the number of sectors N . The potential of our method is illustrated with an experiment for N = 4, yielding D = 16.5.
Most protocols for quantum communication rely on entanglement between qubits. In this contribution we report on an experiment on angular entanglement of two photons. We introduce a quantifier of the dimensionality of the entanglement, using concepts from classical information theory. This Shannon dimensionality gives the effective number of information channels. We exploit the orbital-angular-momentum degree of freedom of photons that emerge from a parametric down-conversion source. The number of entangled modes, known as the Schmidt number, is of order 40. The entanglement is analyzed with a pair of angular state projectors, each consisting of a phase plate, a single-mode fiber and a single-photon detector. The phase plates are rotated about their axes and we record the photon coincidence rate as a function of their independent orientations. The coincidence count rates depend only on the relative orientation of the analyzers. This is a key signature of entanglement.
We introduce the concept of Shannon dimensionality D as a new way to quantify bipartite entanglement as measured in an experiment. This is applied to orbital-angular-momentum entanglement of two photons, using two state analyzers composed of a rotatable angular-sector phase plate that is lens coupled to a single-mode fiber. We can deduce the value of D directly from the observed two-photon coincidence fringe. In our experiment, D varies between 2 and 6, depending on the experimental conditions. We predict how the Shannon dimensionality evolves when the number of angular sectors imprinted in the phase plate is increased and anticipate that D approximately 50 is experimentally within reach.