We analyze possibilities to create/manipulate photon states encoded in spatial degrees of freedom. We show stringent limits for symplectic transforms acting on paraxial modes, and how to overcome these with novel classes of non-Gaussian operations.
Controlled generation and manipulation of photon states encoded in their spatial degrees of freedom is a crucial ingredient in many quantum-information tasks exploiting higher-than-two dimensional encoding. Here, we prove the impossibility to arbitrarily modify d-level state superpositions (qudits) for d>2, encoded in the transverse modes of light, with optical components associated to the group of symplectic transforms (Gaussian operations). Surprisingly, we also provide an explicit construction of how non-Gaussian operations acting on mode subspaces do enable one to overcome the limit d=2. In addition, this set of operations realizes the full SU(3) algebra.
High-dimensional degrees of photons – such as orbital angular momentum, spatial modes of frequency – provide a powerful mean to increase the density and security of quantum communication, and to enhance flexibility in quantum computing. In particular, the spatial degree of freedom is particularly suited to on-chip integration. Rapid progress has been made in recent years to develop integrated circuits achieving on-chip quantum interference, entanglement and gate operations on spatially encoded states, culminating in the demonstration of the Boson Sampling task on-chip [1]. While many of these demonstrations have relied on external sources to generate quantum states of light, which were then fed into a passive circuitry, a next step has been taken recently with the demonstration of active chips combining the generation and manipulation of spatially encoded states [2].
Spatially structured photons have attracted a lot of attention in quantum photonics, where they often serve as powerful tools for investigating fundamental properties of light, and for realizing high-dimensional quantum states with beneficial properties in quantum information tasks such as cryptography or quantum simulations [1] . One way of describing any spatial structure, in the paraxial limit, is through orthogonal transverse-spatial modes e.g. Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes. A unique feature of higher order LG modes is their twisted phase front, to which a theoretically unbounded orbital angular momentum can be attributed.
The orbital angular momentum of photons, being defined in an infinite-dimensional discrete Hilbert space, offers a promising resource for high-dimensional quantum information protocols in quantum optics. The biggest obstacle to its wider use is presently represented by the limited set of tools available for its control and manipulation. Here, we introduce and test experimentally a series of simple optical schemes for the coherent transfer of quantum information from the polarization to the orbital angular momentum of single photons and vice versa. All our schemes exploit a newly developed optical device, the so-called "q-plate", which enables the manipulation of the photon orbital angular momentum driven by the polarization degree of freedom. By stacking several q-plates in a suitable sequence, one can also have access to higher-order angular momentum subspaces. In particular, we demonstrate the control of the orbital angular momentum m degree of freedom within the subspaces of |m| = 2h and |m| = 4h per photon.
The orbital angular momentum carried by single photons represents a promising resource in the quantum information field. In this paper we report a series of optical schemes adopted for the manipulation of quantum states encoded in the orbital angular momentum exploiting the q-plate device. We further demonstrate the capability of generating hybrid entangled states as well as quantum states in dimension higher than two. Indeed we present the manipulation of ququart states encoded in the polarization and orbital angular momentum, which have been adopted for new quantum cryptographic protocols