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Physical Review A

Single-photon vortex beam detection with near-field diffraction

Sarayut Deachapunya, Sorakrai Srisuphaphon, Sitti Buathong, Pissunee Deechuen

Published Sep 6, 2023• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A beam of single-photon vortex has been detected with near-field diffraction. Our single-photon beam is generated with a weak coherent pulse method and subsequently imprinted with the orbital angular momentum of the vortex using a zeroth-order vortex half-wave retarder. The detection is employed with a two-grating Talbot near-field effect. Instead of using expensive single-photon image detection, we use a mask grating and an avalanche photodiode for the detection. This technique can identify the order and charge of the vortex from different count rates. Our technique can be utilized in the field of quantum information technology such as quantum cryptography using orthogonal states of an optical vortex beam.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.033502

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•Sep 19, 2019•0 citations
A beam of single-photon vortex has been detected with near-field diffraction. Our single-photon beam is generated with a weak coherent pulse method and subsequently imprinted with the orbital angular momentum of the vortex using a zeroth-order vortex half-wave retarder. The detection is employed with a two-grating Talbot near-field effect. Instead of using expensive single-photon image detection, we use a mask grating and an avalanche photodiode for the detection. This technique can identify the order and charge of the vortex from different count rates. Our technique can be utilized in the field of quantum information technology such as quantum cryptography using orthogonal states of an optical vortex beam.
We show that an optical vortex beam, implemented classically, can be transferred to the transverse amplitude of a heralded single photon. For this purpose we have relied on the process of spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) for the generation of signal and idler photon pairs, using a pump in the form of a Bessel-Gauss (BG) beam with orbital angular momentum (specifically, with topological charge l = 1 and l = 2). We have designed our source so that it operates within the short SPDC crystal regime for which, the amplitude and phase of the pump may be transferred to a heralded single photon. In order to verify the vortex nature of our heralded single photon, we have shown that the conditional angular spectrum and the transverse intensity at the single-photon level match similar measurements carried out for the pump. In addition, we have shown that when our heralded single photon is diffracted through a triangular aperture, the far-field single-photon transverse intensity exhibits the expected triangular arrangement of intensity lobes associated with the presence of orbital angular momentum.
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons has applications both in classical and quantum information due to its features of optical vortex and infinite dimensions. This paper studies the interference effects of optical vortex beams carrying mixed, conjugate, and single-mode OAM states based on the Sagnac interferometer with light sources of a laser and single photon. We compare our results with numerical simulations and show that the light intensity distribution and phase characteristics can directly characterize the absolute value of the topological charge (TC) carried by vortex beams. Furthermore, our scheme can also classify the photon with positive and negative signs of TC in the mixed mode OAM state by changing the relative phase. The results not only extend the manipulation methods for high-dimensional quantum states, but also lay a solid foundation for the application of vortex beams in a single-photon field.
Optical vortex beams (OVBs) carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) offer access to an unbounded set of orthogonal states, enabling a dramatic increase in the information capacity for optical communication systems. However, practical OAM detection in telecommunication platforms remains challenging due to background noise, detector limitations at infrared communication wavelengths, and the destructive nature of conventional sampling methods. Here, we introduce an all-optical, nearly nondestructive OAM detection method based on sum-frequency generation (SFG) that overcomes these limitations by transferring the information on the OAM into a distinct frequency domain. In our scheme, two OVBs─one carrying OAM-encoded information and the other serving as a reference─are coupled within a beta-barium borate (BBO) crystal to generate an SFG signal. Our theoretical and experimental studies demonstrate that SFG efficiency is governed by the spatial overlap of the interacting vortex profiles, providing mode-selective and OAM-resolved detection. Crucially, as only a small fraction of the input photons undergo conversion into the nonlinear signal, the original beams remain functionally intact. Since detection is performed exclusively on the upconverted signal in a spectrally distinct visible wavelength region, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved. Moreover, the SFG signal is generated only when specific OAM states and temporal overlap conditions are simultaneously satisfied, enabling ultrafast and conditionally gated access to the OAM information. This nonlinear selectivity offers enhanced physical-layer security and high-throughput capabilities. Together, our approach provides a robust and versatile platform for advanced OAM-based optical communications and high-capacity photonics applications.
The thesis introduces two single-photon experiments with the lattice of spin-orbit arrays. The basic background knowledge has been introduced in Chapter 1. Chapters 2-4 describe the detailed techniques used in these two experiments. \n \nIn the first work, we implement a remote state preparation protocol on our single-photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) lattice state via hybrid-entanglement. Remote state preparation is a variant of quantum state teleportation where the sender knows the transmitted state. It is known to require fewer classical resources and exhibit a nontrivial trade-off between the entanglement and classical communication compared with quantum teleportation. Here we propose a state preparation scheme between two spatially separated photons sharing a hybrid-entangled polarization-OAM state. By sending one of the polarization-entangled photon pairs through Lattice of Optical Vortex prism pairs, we generate a two-dimensional lattice of spin-orbit coupled single-photons. We show that the measurement taken by an electron-multiplying intensified CCD camera on the transformed photons can be remotely prepared by the polarization projection of the other. Our protocol could have a significant impact on long-distance quantum communication with higher channel capacity and lead to more efficient and compatible quantum information processing techniques. \n \nThe second experiment investigates the single-photon Talbot Effect in spin-orbit arrays. The Talbot Effect is a near-field diffraction effect, that occurs with the propagation of periodically structured waves. It has enabled several unique applications in optical metrology, image processing, data transmission, and matter-wave interferometry. We observe that upon propagation, the wavefronts of the single photons manifest self-imaging whereby the OAM lattice intensity profile is recovered. Furthermore, we show that the intensity distribution at each fractional Talbot distance is indicative of the periodic helical phase structure corresponding to a lattice of OAM states. This phenomenon is a significant addition to the toolbox of orbital angular momentum and spin-orbit techniques that are becoming increasingly important in optical implementations of quantum information.