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IEEE photonics journal

Measuring the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light Based on Optical Differentiation

Liang Fang, Lan Luo, Rujin Zhao, Bo Liu

Published Jun 16, 2023• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The utilization of orbital angular momentum (OAM) in light for information encoding is a promising avenue, as it exhibits resilience against environmental disturbances. However, the direct detection of OAM poses a significant challenge due to beam distortion during transmission, which ultimately limits the practical application of OAM-based optical communication. We propose an environmentally friendly and intuitive detection method based on optical differentiation using a weak-measurement system. Optical differential measurements were conducted on Laguerre-Gaussian beams (L-G beams) with$l$= 5 and$l$= 8 to validate the feasibility of this approach. This approach mitigates the impact of disturbances on OAM measurement, enabling direct detection through a simplified system, which serves as a valuable reference for utilizing OAM as an information carrier in free-space optical communication.

DOI
10.1109/jphot.2023.3285226

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The utilization of orbital angular momentum (OAM) in light for information encoding is a promising avenue, as it exhibits resilience against environmental disturbances. However, the direct detection of OAM poses a significant challenge due to beam distortion during transmission, which ultimately limits the practical application of OAM-based optical communication. We propose an environmentally friendly and intuitive detection method based on optical differentiation using a weak-measurement system. Optical differential measurements were conducted on Laguerre-Gaussian beams (L-G beams) withlll= 5 andlll= 8 to validate the feasibility of this approach. This approach mitigates the impact of disturbances on OAM measurement, enabling direct detection through a simplified system, which serves as a valuable reference for utilizing OAM as an information carrier in free-space optical communication.
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.
Abstract The rich structure of transverse spatial modes of structured light has facilitated their extensive applications in quantum information and optical communication. The Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) modes, which carry a well-defined orbital angular momentum (OAM), consist of a complete orthogonal basis describing the transverse spatial modes of light. The application of OAM in free-space optical communication is restricted due to the experimentally limited OAM numbers and the complex OAM recognition methods. Here, we present a novel method that uses the advanced deep learning technique for LG modes recognition. By discretizing the spatial modes of structured light, we turn the OAM state regression into classification. A proof-of-principle experiment is also performed, showing that our method effectively categorizes OAM states with small training samples and the accuracy exceeds 99% from three-dimensional (3D) to fifteen-dimensional (15D) space. By assigning each category a classical information, we further apply our approach to an image transmission task, achieving a transmission accuracy of 99.58%, which demonstrates the ability to encode large data with low OAM number. This work opens up a new avenue for achieving high-capacity optical communication with low OAM number based on structured light.
Recently,the free space optical communication system based on orbital angular momentum( OAM) states multiplexing has become one of the hot topics in optical communications and quantum optics,because OAM states are new dimensional information carriers. An efficient orbital-angular-momentum-multiplexed free-space optical communication scheme is proposed,where the efficient orbital angular momentum states separation method is adopted. With this OAM separation method,different orbital angular momentum states can be obtained simultaneously from the superposition OAM state beam,which greatly saves time and the expensive devices for demodulating the information from the information-carrying OAM states. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed scheme can reduce time and the number of the devices at the receiver for the information retrieving. The bit error rate of the system can be less than 10- 4when the signal-to-noise ratio of the system is greater than 23 dB. Therefore,this OAMmultiplexed free-space optical communications scheme is proved to be feasible.
Satellite-based quantum communications enable a bright future for global-scale information security. However, the spin angular momentum of light, currently used in many mainstream quantum communication systems, only allows for quantum encoding in a two-dimensional Hilbert space. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light, on the other hand, enables quantum encoding in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces, opening up new opportunities for high-capacity quantum communications. Due to its turbulence-induced decoherence effects, however, the atmospheric channel may limit the practical usage of OAM. In order to determine whether OAM is useful for satellite-based quantum communications, we numerically investigate the detection likelihoods for OAM states that traverse satellite-to-ground channels. We show that the use of OAM through such channels is in fact feasible. We use our new results to then investigate design specifications that could improve OAM detection - particularly the use of advanced adaptive optics techniques. Finally, we discuss how our work provides new insights into future implementations of space-based OAM systems within the context of quantum communications.
The study of optical beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) has gained the interest of researchers since the seminal work of the Woerdman group in Leiden in 1992. These beams have been used as optical tweezers, as a tool for high-resolution nanoscopy, as a new instrument for increased angular resolution measurement, and as a resource for increased channel capacity in optical communications and high-dimensional information carrier for diverse applications in quantum information science among others. In this presentation, I will introduce beams with OAM, their properties and peculiarities. I will talk about how these beams are generated with a focus on the coherent generation of these kinds of beams using sum-frequency generation. I will discuss the applications of these beams in detecting spinning object, and as pointer states to probe joint weak value in weak measurements. I will end my talk with possible directions for this field of research.
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has become a central topic in quantum information and optical communication. In applications OAM is typically probed by observing a beam's diffraction through binary amplitude and phase masks. Distinguishing the different OAM states of the beam is usually difficult, though, so here the authors program a digital micromirror array to shift the setup's slit transversely, to exploit the unique phase of an OAM beam. By observing how diffraction varies as the slit changes, one can probe higher OAM values than usual, allowing access to theoretically unlimited OAM states for high-dimensional quantum systems, or for multiplexing in communication.