Orbital angular momentum and parity

Franz Schwabl

Zijing Zhang, Tianyuan Qiao, Kun Ma +4 more

Photon orbital angular momentum has led to many novel insights and applications in quantum measurement. Photon orbital angular momentum can increase the resolution and sensitivity of angular rotation measurement. However, quantum measurement strategy can further surpass this limit and improve the resolution of angular rotation measurement. This Letter proposes and demonstrates a parity measurement method in angular rotation measurement scheme for the first time. Parity measurement can make the resolution superior to the limit of the existing method. The sensitivity can be improved with higher orbital angular momentum photons. Moreover, this Letter gives a detailed discussion of the change of resolution and sensitivity in the presence of photon loss.

S. Rajasekar, R. Velusamy

A particle moving along a straight-line has a linear momentum mv. A revolving particle has angular momentum due to its mass and angular velocity. In classical mechanics, orbital angular momentum is the vector product of position (r) and linear momentum (p): L = r× p . (11.1) Let us imagine the electron as a small ball, revolving about some axis. It possesses angular momentum. Precisely, the angular momentum vector is a vector pointing along the axis of rotation with magnitude proportional to the speed of rotation. A vector which changes sign under space inversion (parity operation) is called a polar vector . r and p are polar vectors as they change sign. Since L = (−r)× (−p), L does not change sign under parity operation. Such vectors which do not change sign under parity operation are called axial vectors or psuedo-vectors. Classically, the angular momentum of the electron could have any magnitude. In quantum mechanics the orbital angular momentum operator is obtained by replacing p by −i~∇. The angular position of a particle is the angle at which it is located in two-dimensional polar coordinates.

Jiandong Zhang, Zijing Zhang, Longzhu Cen +4 more

We report on an orbital-angular-momentum-enhanced scheme for angular displacement estimation based on two-mode squeezed vacuum and parity detection. The sub-Heisenberg-limited sensitivity for angular displacement estimation is obtained in an ideal situation. Several realistic factors are also considered, including photon loss, dark counts, response-time delay, and thermal photon noise. Our results indicate that the effects of realistic factors on the sensitivity can be offset by raising orbital angular momentum quantum number ℓ. This implies that the robustness and the practicability of the system can be improved via raising ℓ without changing mean photon number N.