Combining the multiple degrees of freedom of photons has become topical in quantum communication and information processes. This provides advantages such as increasing the amount of information that is be packed into a photon or probing the wave-particle nature of light through path-polarisation entanglement. Here we present two experiments that show the advantages of using hybrid entanglement between orbital angular moment (OAM) and polarisation. Firstly, we present results where high dimensional quantum key distribution is demonstrated with spatial modes that have non-separable polarisation-OAM DOF called vector modes. Secondly, we show that through OAM-polarisation entanglement, the traditional which-way experiment can be performed without using the traditional physical path interference approach.
Combining the multiple degrees of freedom of photons has become topical in quantum communication and information processes. This provides advantages such as increasing the amount of information that is be packed into a photon or probing the wave-particle nature of light through path-polarisation entanglement. Here we present two experiments that show the advantages of using hybrid entanglement between orbital angular moment (OAM) and polarisation. Firstly, we present results where high dimensional quantum key distribution is demonstrated with spatial modes that have non-separable polarisation-OAM DOF called vector modes. Secondly, we show that through OAM-polarisation entanglement, the traditional which-way experiment can be performed without using the traditional physical path interference approach.
Hybrid entangled states, having entanglement between different degrees-of-freedom (DoF) of a particle pair, are of great interest for quantum information science and communication protocols. Among different DoFs, the hybrid entangled states encoded with polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) allow the generation of qubit-qudit entangled states, macroscopic entanglement with very high quanta of OAM and improvement in angular resolution in remote sensing. Till date, such hybrid entangled states are generated by using a high-fidelity polarization entangled states and subsequent imprinting of chosen amount of OAM using suitable mode converters such as spatial light modulator in complicated experimental schemes. Given that the entangled sources have feeble number of photons, loss of photons during imprinting of OAM using diffractive optical elements limits the use of such hybrid states for practical applications. Here we report, on a simple generic experimental scheme to generate hybrid entangled states in polarization and OAM through direct transfer of classical non-separable states of the pump beam in parametric down conversion process. As a proof of principle, using local non-separable pump states of OAM mode l = 3, we have produced quantum hybrid entangled states with entanglement witness parameter of ~1.25 ± 0.03 violating by 8 standard deviation.
Hybrid entangled states, having entanglement between different degrees-of-freedom (DoF) of a particle pair, are of great interest for quantum information science and communication protocols. Among different DoFs, the hybrid entangled states encoded with polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) allow the generation of qubit-qudit entangled states, macroscopic entanglement with very high quanta of OAM and improvement in angular resolution in remote sensing. Till date, such hybrid entangled states are generated by using a high-fidelity polarization entangled state and subsequent imprinting of chosen amount of OAM using suitable mode converters such as spatial light modulator in complicated experimental schemes. Given that the entangled sources have feeble number of photons, loss of photons during imprinting of OAM using diffractive optical elements limits the use of such hybrid state for practical applications. Here we report, on a simple experimental scheme to generate hybrid entangled state in polarization and OAM through direct transfer of classical non-separable state of the pump beam in parametric down conversion process. As a proof of principle, using local non-separable pump state of OAM mode l=3, we have produced quantum hybrid entangled state with entanglement witness parameter of W-1.25 violating by 8 standard deviation. The generic scheme can be used to produce hybrid entangled state between two photons differing by any quantum number through proper choice of non-separable state of the pump beam.
The global quantum network requires the distribution of entangled states over long distances, with significant advances already demonstrated using entangled polarisation states, reaching approximately 1200 km in free space and 100 km in optical fibre. Packing more information into each photon requires Hilbert spaces with higher dimensionality, for example, that of spatial modes of light. However spatial mode entanglement transport requires custom multimode fibre and is limited by decoherence induced mode coupling. Here we transport multi-dimensional entangled states down conventional single-mode fibre (SMF). We achieve this by entangling the spin-orbit degrees of freedom of a bi-photon pair, passing the polarisation (spin) photon down the SMF while accessing multi-dimensional orbital angular momentum (orbital) subspaces with the other. We show high fidelity hybrid entanglement preservation down 250 m of SMF across multiple 2x2 dimensions, demonstrating quantum key distribution protocols, quantum state tomographies and quantum erasers. This work offers an alternative approach to spatial mode entanglement transport that facilitates deployment in legacy networks across conventional fibre.
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of single photons represents a new optical degree of freedom for the entanglement of photons [1,2]. One physical realization of OAM carrying light beams are the so called Laguerre-Gaussian modes of light with the required helical phase structure. One big advantage over the well known polarization degree of freedom is the possibility of realizing entanglement between two photons with very high quantum numbers. However, the creation of photonic OAM entanglement using the widely used spontaneous parametric downconversion process is limited by the strongly reduced efficiency for higher momenta [3]. We have realized a novel method to create entanglement between two photons with a very high difference in their OAM quantum number and momentum respectively. Furthermore we have explored hybrid entanglement of photons in the OAM and polarization degree of freedom.
Abstract Electromagnetic waves have both spin momentum and orbital angular momentum (OAM). Light carrying OAM has broad applications in micro-particle manipulation, high-precision optical metrology, and potential high-capacity optical communications. In the concept of quantum information, a photon encoded with information in its OAM degree of freedom enables quantum networks to carry much more information and increase their channel capacity greatly compared with those of current technology because of the inherent infinite dimensions for OAM. Quantum memories are indispensable to construct quantum networks. Storing OAM states has attracted considerable attention recently, and many important advances in this direction have been achieved during the past few years. Here we review recent experimental realizations of quantum memories using OAM states, including OAM qubits and qutrits at true single photon level, OAM states entangled in a two-dimensional or a high-dimensional space, hyperentanglement and hybrid entanglement consisting of OAM and other degree of freedom in a physical system. We believe that all achievements described here are very helpful to study quantum information encoded in a high-dimensional space.
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.