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Scientific Reports

A deterministic detector for vector vortex states

Bienvenu I. Ndagano, Isaac M. Nape, Benjamin Perez-García, Stirling Scholes, Raúl I. Hernández-Aranda, Thomas Konrad, Martin P. J. Lavery, Andrew Forbes

Published Oct 18, 2017• 55 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Encoding information in high-dimensional degrees of freedom of photons has led to new avenues in various quantum protocols such as communication and information processing. Yet to fully benefit from the increase in dimension requires a deterministic detection system, e.g., to reduce dimension dependent photon loss in quantum key distribution. Recently, there has been a growing interest in using vector vortex modes, spatial modes of light with entangled degrees of freedom, as a basis for encoding information. However, there is at present no method to detect these non-separable states in a deterministic manner, negating the benefit of the larger state space. Here we present a method to deterministically detect single photon states in a four dimensional space spanned by vector vortex modes with entangled polarisation and orbital angular momentum degrees of freedom. We demonstrate our detection system with vector vortex modes from the |[Formula: see text]| = 1 and |[Formula: see text]| = 10 subspaces using classical and weak coherent states and find excellent detection fidelities for both pure and superposition vector states. This work opens the possibility to increase the dimensionality of the state-space used for encoding information while maintaining deterministic detection and will be invaluable for long distance classical and quantum communication.

DOI
10.1038/s41598-017-12739-z

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Encoding information in high-dimensional degrees of freedom of photons has led to new avenues in various quantum protocols such as communication and information processing. Yet to fully benefit from the increase in dimension requires a deterministic detection system, e.g., to reduce dimension dependent photon loss in quantum key distribution. Recently, there has been a growing interest in using vector vortex modes, spatial modes of light with entangled degrees of freedom, as a basis for encoding information. However, there is at present no method to detect these non-separable states in a deterministic manner, negating the benefit of the larger state space. Here we present a method to deterministically detect single photon states in a four dimensional space spanned by vector vortex modes with entangled polarisation and orbital angular momentum degrees of freedom. We demonstrate our detection system with vector vortex modes from the |[Formula: see text]| = 1 and |[Formula: see text]| = 10 subspaces using classical and weak coherent states and find excellent detection fidelities for both pure and superposition vector states. This work opens the possibility to increase the dimensionality of the state-space used for encoding information while maintaining deterministic detection and will be invaluable for long distance classical and quantum communication.
Vector vortex beams are structured states of light that are nonseparable in their polarisation and spatial mode, they are eigenmodes of free-space and many fiber systems, and have the capacity to be used as information carriers for both classical and quantum communication. Here, we outline recent progress in our understanding of these modes, from their creation to their characterization and detection. We then use these tools to study their propagation behavior in free-space and optical fiber and show that modal cross-talk results in a decay of vector states into separable scalar modes, with a concomitant loss of information. We present a comparison between probabilistic and deterministic detection schemes showing that the former, while ubiquitous, negates the very benefit of increased dimensionality in quantum communication while reducing signal in classical communication links. This work provides a useful introduction to the field as well as presenting new findings and perspectives to advance it further.
Quantum communication over long distances is integral to information security and has been demonstrated in free space and fibre with two-dimensional polarisation states of light. Although increased bit rates can be achieved using high-dimensional encoding with spatial modes of light, the efficient detection of high-dimensional states remains a challenge to realise the full benefit of the increased state space. Here we exploit the entanglement between spatial modes and polarization to realise a four-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol. We introduce a detection scheme which employs only static elements, allowing for the detection of all basis modes in a high-dimensional space deterministically. As a result we are able to realise the full potential of our high-dimensional state space, demonstrating efficient QKD at high secure key and sift rates, with the highest capacity-to-dimension reported to date. This work opens the possibility to increase the dimensionality of the state-space indefinitely while still maintaining deterministic detection and will be invaluable for long distance 'secure and fas' data transfer.
Abstract Violating a nonlocality inequality enables the most powerful remote quantum information tasks and fundamental tests of quantum physics. Loophole-free photonic verification of nonlocality has been achieved with polarization-entangled photon pairs, but not with states entangled in other degrees of freedom. Here we demonstrate completion of the quantum steering nonlocality task, with the detection loophole closed, when entanglement is distributed by transmitting a photon in an optical vector vortex state, formed by optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) and polarization. As well as opening up a high-efficiency encoding beyond polarization, the critically important demonstration of vector vortex steering opens the door to new free-space and satellite-based secure quantum communication devices and device-independent protocols.
High-dimensional encoding using higher degrees of freedom has become topical in quantum communication protocols. When taking advantage of entanglement correlations, the state space can be made even larger. Here, we exploit the entanglement between two dimensional space and polarization qubits, to realize a four-dimensional quantum key distribution protocol. This is achieved by using entangled states as a basis, analogous to the Bell basis, rather than typically encoding information on individual qubits. The encoding and decoding in the required complementary bases is achieved by manipulating the Pancharatnam-Berry phase with a single optical element: a q-plate. Our scheme shows a transmission fidelity of 0.98 and secret key rate of 0.9 bits per photon. While the use of only static elements is preferable, we show that the low secret key rate is a consequence of the filter based detection of the modes, rather than our choice of encoding modes.
The bandwidth of any communication system, classical or quantum, is limited by the number of orthogonal states in which the information can be encoded. Quantum key distribution systems available commercially rely on the two-dimensional polarisation state of photons. Quantum computation has also been largely designed on the basis of qubits. However, a photon is endowed with other degrees of freedom, such as orbital angular momentum (OAM). OAM is an attractive basis to be used for quantum information because it is discrete and theoretically infinite-dimensional. This promises a higher information capacity per photon which can lead to more complex quantum computation protocols and more security and robustness for quantum cryptography. Entanglement of OAM naturally arises from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). However, any practical experiment utilising the innately high-dimensional entanglement of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) state space of photons is subject to the modal capacity of the detection system. Only a finite subset of this space is accessible experimentally. Given such a constraint, we show that the number of measured, entangled OAM modes in photon pairs generated by SPDC can be increased by tuning the phase-matching conditions in the SPDC process. We achieve this by tuning the orientation angle of the nonlinear crystal generating the entangled photons.
Entanglement in high-dimensional quantum systems, where one or more degrees of freedom of light are involved, offers increased information capacities and enables new quantum protocols.Here, we demonstrate a functional source of high-dimensional, noise-resilient hyperentangled states encoded in time-frequency and vector vortex structured modes, which in turn carry single-particle entanglement between polarization and orbital angular momentum.Pairing nonlinearity-engineered parametric downconversion in an interferometric scheme with spin-to-orbital-angular-momentum conversion, we generate highly entangled photon pairs at telecom wavelength that we characterize via two-photon interference and quantum state tomography, achieving near-unity visibilities and fidelities.While hyperentanglement has been demonstrated before in photonic qubits, here we present a rich entanglement structure involving spectrally and spatially structured light, where three different forms of entanglement coexist in the same biphoton state.