We report on controlling the bi-photon OAM eigenmodes in down-conversion process by simply adjusting the asymmetry of the pump vortex beam. Calculation of the Schmidt number shows the increase in the number of OAM eigenmodes.
Abstract We report on controlling the bi-photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) eigenmodes in the spontaneous parametric down conversion process by simply adjusting the asymmetry of the pump vortex beam. Adjusting the optic axis of the spiral phase plate of phase winding corresponding to OAM mode, l , with respect to the beam propagation axis, we have transformed a Gaussian beam into an asymmetric vortex beam with OAM modes, l , l –1, l –2 …0 with different weightages. Pumping the nonlinear crystal with such asymmetric vortices and controlling their asymmetry we have tailored the spiral spectrum of the bi-photon OAM eigenmodes. Calculation of azimuthal Schmidt number of the bi-photons showed an increase in the spiral bandwidth of the OAM eigenmodes and hence the dimensionality of the system. Although we have restricted our study to show the increase in spiral bandwidth of the bi-photons by simply controlling the asymmetry of the pump vortices, the dimensionality of the bi-photon states can be enhanced further by manipulating the pump beam size and crystal length.
In this article we investigate the orbital angular momentum spectrum of photons produced in parametric down conversion process. We study how the transverse profile of the pump mode affects the spectrum as compared to a gaussian pump beam. We show that using perfect optical vortex mode as pump the spectrum can be highly narrowed down. We further study the entanglement between the two down converted photons in the orbital angular momentum basis. We observe that photons entangled in Laguerre-Gaussian modes exhibit greater higher dimensional entanglement.
Abstract In this work, we investigate the orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum of photons generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) and study how shaping the transverse profile of the pump beam influences the resulting spectrum. Using a perfect optical vortex (POV) mode as the pump, we show that the OAM spectrum narrows significantly, leading to purer OAM states. We further examine the entanglement between the down-converted photons in the OAM basis, finding that Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) pumped photons exhibit increased higher-dimensional entanglement at the expense of mode purity.
Abstract Light beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) are convenient carriers of quantum information. They can also be used for imparting rotational motion to particles and providing high resolution in imaging. Due to the conservation of OAM in parametric down-conversion (PDC), signal and idler photons generated at low gain have perfectly anti-correlated OAM values. It is interesting to study the OAM properties of high-gain PDC, where the same OAM modes can be populated with large, but correlated, numbers of photons. Here we investigate the OAM spectrum of high-gain PDC and show that the OAM mode content can be controlled by varying the pump power and the configuration of the source. In our experiment, we use a source consisting of two nonlinear crystals separated by an air gap. We discuss the OAM properties of PDC radiation emitted by this source and suggest possible modifications.