A photon's orbital angular momentum (OAM) offers a promising resource for the higher-dimensional quantum information process, which is due to the infinite values of OAM. One of the obstacles for its application is that it is difficult to transmit information encoded in OAM space in long distance quantum communication, e.g., photons with different OAMs are unsupported in optical fiber transmitting. We propose an efficient scheme to transform the information from OAM to frequency. Then the information encoded in frequency freedom can be used in fiber transmission and finally be recovered to OAM from frequency. Our scheme can be easily extended to higher-dimensional quantum information transferring between OAM and frequency.
A photon's orbital angular momentum (OAM) offers a promising resource for the higher-dimensional quantum information process, which is due to the infinite values of OAM. One of the obstacles for its application is that it is difficult to transmit information encoded in OAM space in long distance quantum communication, e.g., photons with different OAMs are unsupported in optical fiber transmitting. We propose an efficient scheme to transform the information from OAM to frequency. Then the information encoded in frequency freedom can be used in fiber transmission and finally be recovered to OAM from frequency. Our scheme can be easily extended to higher-dimensional quantum information transferring between OAM and frequency.
Light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) has exciting applications, including the studies of fundamental quantum physics, optical manipulation and trapping of particles, astrophysics, high-precision optical measurements and optical communication, etc. In quantum information field, a photon encoded with information in its OAM degrees of freedom enables networks to carry significantly more information and increase their capacity greatly due to the inherent infinite degrees of freedom for OAM. Therefore it is no surprise that many groups and researchers are active in building up a high-dimensional quantum network and many important progresses have been achieved during the past years. To realize a long-distance quantum communication, a quantum repeater has to be used to overcome the problem of communication fidelity decreasing exponentially with the channel length, where, quantum memories for photons, used for storing quantum information, which have been realized successfully during the past decade in many systems such as a cold/hot atomic system, a solid matter, a diamond, and others, are key components consisting of a quantum repeater. Photons acted as information candidates can connect different quantum repeaters. Long distance quantum communication requires the wavelengths of photons are situated in the low-loss communication windows, but most quantum memories currently being developed for use in a quantum repeater work at different wavelengths, only few memories can work in low-loss communication windows. Furthermore, the signal stored is an attenuated coherent light and has the Gaussian mode. Though the storage of photonic entanglement at telecom wavelength is realized in an erbium-doped optical fibre recently, the spatial mode used is Gaussian mode. Quantum memories for photons with OAM have recently been realized, but all work at different wavelengths. So a quantum interface to bridge the wavelength gap is necessary.
Quantum communication consists of the reliable transmission of quantum states among several parties and looks toward the long-term goal of a Quantum Internet. Quantum Internet could open up a whole universe of new applications, spanning from fundamental physics and secure communications to remote quantum computing. Multiple degrees of freedom can be used for the distribution of the quantum states, such as polarization, frequency, time and space. In particular, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) of light is one of the most promising thanks to its unbounded nature, albeit challenging to manipulate. OAM has been largely investigated both for classical and quantum communications, allowing for enhanced data rate in classical links and determining a high-dimensional basis for quantum communication. Here, we report our recent results related to quantum states encoded in the orbital angular momentum of light, proving the capability of preparing, manipulating, transmitting and measuring high-dimensional quantum states through a multimode fibre.
Abstract The orbital angular momentum state (OAM) of the photon can be theoretically evaluated from minus infinity to infinity, and the different orbital angular momentum states are orthogonal to each other. Therefore, in recent years, it has attracted wide attention from the academic circle and the industry. The purpose of this paper is to study the characteristics of single photon orbital angular momentum transfer based on information processing technology and to provide Suggestions for its technical optimization. Based on the characteristics of the angular momentum state of photon orbit, this paper studies its application and related problems in information processing and transmission. In this paper, quantum multiuser communication technology is studied, and a multiuser communication scheme based on photon orbital angular momentum state is proposed. The scheme takes advantage of the orthogonality of different orbital angular momentum states of the photon and assumes that the sender and receiver share a pair of entangled orbital angular momentum states. On this basis, the spatial light modulator is used to modulate it to the entangled photon of the sender, so that the sending photon carries all the user’s information at the same time. Finally, the receiver accurately extracts the information of each sender by measuring the coincidence count and according to the specific receiving rules. Numerical simulation and experimental results show that the coincidence rate of different coding schemes is between 0 and 0.66, which proves the feasibility of the scheme.
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of photons span a high-dimensional Hilbert space, and by using it, higher information capacity and enhanced security can be achieved for both classical communication and quantum key distribution. In this work, we propose a feasible basis-independent encoding scheme for OAM states and show its application in high-dimensional quantum secure direct communication, which enables direct transmission of meaningful messages, in addition to random secret key establishing. Imperfections of optical components may reduce the efficiency of the encoding scheme and, thus, the channel capacity. We discuss the optimal input distribution under realistic conditions to achieve maximal mutual information and an alternative solution using a different set of mutually unbiased bases in the case of a prime-dimensional quantum system.
The beam with orbital angular momentum is a present domestic and foreign research key direction. Its application and development will bring the profound influence in the optical communications field. At the same time, light's orbital angular momentum promises potential applications in both classical and quantum optical communication. The research progress of the beam with orbital angular momentum and encoding information as light's OAM for free-space optical communication were reviewed in this article, the existing design method, mechanism and description methods of encoding information as light's OAM were discussed. In quantum communication, qudits can be encoded in photons using their OAM for creating high-dimensional entanglement based on entangled photon pairs from SPDC. In this paper, light's OAM is used as information carrier for classical and quantum communication, which is promising to ensures the security of atmospheric laser communication, improves the density and precision of information transmission. It is apparent that an efficient way to measure the orbital angular momentum of individual photons and light beams with good efficiency would be of potentially great importance for optical communications and quantum information. In view of the above, the measurements of orbital angular momentum of individual photons and light beams are analyzed and discussed in detail.
The field of quantum communication is thriving as a complement to conventional telecommunication with its distinctive feature of absolute security. As the core technology for delivering quantum information, substantial advances in quantum communication have already been demonstrated on various platforms, including photonic systems. Among all of them, the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons with its infinite Hilbert space has attracted much attention and has been widely employed in both classical and quantum regimes. In particular, many types of fiber have been designed and fabricated to allow transmitting OAM of photons. Here, we review recent progress in transmitting OAM quantum states through different types of fiber, including few-mode fibers, multi-mode fibers, ring-core fibers, and single-mode fibers. We also discuss the challenges and prospects of quantum OAM in fibers.