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Acta Physica Sinica

Orbital angular momentum splitter of light based on beam displacer

Zhuo Zhang, Jingfeng Zhang, Ling-Jun Kong

Published Jan 1, 2024• 0 citations

Abstract

In recent years, the high-dimensional properties of the orbital angular momentum degree of freedom of light have attracted extensive attention. This degree of freedom has been studied and used in many scientific fields, especially in optical communication and quantum information. In order to fully utilize the high-dimensional properties of orbital angular momentum, non-destructive separation of different orbital angular momentum states has become a fundamental requirement. However, the existing orbital angular momentum beam-splitting systems either lack stability and cascade expansibility, or the properties of the separated orbital angular momentum states are seriously damaged, thus failing to participate in further interaction processes. In this work, we construct a miniature Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on the beam displacer, and design an orbital angular momentum beam splitter, thereby realizing the non-destructive beam splitting of orbital angular momentum mode. In the orbital angular momentum splitter, the theoretical energy loss is zero because there exists only total reflection of the beam. The beam in the miniature Mach-Zehnder interferometer passes through the same optical element, and the spatial deviation of the beam is small, so the orbital angular momentum beam splitter has good stability. In addition, because the separated orbital angular momentum state has the same propagation direction as the incident orbital angular momentum state, the beam splitter has good extensibility and is easy to use in cascade. Our research result is of great significance in using the orbital angular momentum as a high-dimensional degree of freedom in optical communication and other related fields.

DOI: 10.7498/aps.73.20231874

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We propose an efficient scheme for realizing all-optical router or beam splitter (BS) by employing a double tripod-type atomic system, where the ground levels are coupled by two additional intensity-dependent weak microwave fields. We show that the high-dimensional probe field encoded in a degree of freedom of orbital angular momentum can be stored, retrieved, and manipulated. Due to the constructive or destructive interference between the introduced microwave fields and the atomic spin coherence, the generated stationary light pulses and the retrieved probe fields can be increased or decreased with high efficiency and fidelity in a controllable manner. On the basis of the results and a general extension, a tunable all-optical router or BS, which can split a high-dimensional probe field into two or more ones, can be achieved by actively operating the controlling fields and the microwave fields. The current scheme, integrating multiple functions and showing excellent performance, could greatly enhance the tunability and capacity for the all-optical information processing.

Optical beams bearing orbital angular momentum have been recently recognized as potential candidates for realizing

D

-dimensional quantum systems (qudits). In this paper, we propose an optical scheme to implement an orbital angular momentum beam splitter, which changes the outgoing direction with respect to the incoming direction while leaving the qudit state unchanged. Furthermore we demonstrate that such a beam splitter can be used to sort different orbital angular states of a single photon, create arbitrary superpositions of orbital angular momentum states, and implement a high-dimensional Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol for quantum key distribution.

The tunable beam splitter (TBS) is a fundamental component used in optical experiments. A TBS can preserve the orbital angular momentum (OAM) states; in addition, the polarization states of photons are valuable for some particular experiments, such as high-dimensional quantum information processing. We use polarization beam splitters and half-wave plates to realize such a TBS under a compact structure, which can reduce the number of elements that require comparing with existing works. The experiments verify that the TBS has good performances in tunability, polarization, and OAM state preservation. A Sagnac interferometer is implemented with the proposed TBS to evaluate its practical usability, and the mean visibilities greater than 99.30% under varying polarization states demonstrate its potential for optical information processing.

Abstract The orbital angular momentum (OAM) has been widely studied and applied to many scientific fields, especially in optical communication and quantum information. In order to give full play to the high-dimensional characteristics of OAM, separating different OAM states is a fundamental requirement. Here we find a way to introduce the mode dependent phase shift by using Porro prism, design and manufacture a new kind of two-output OAM sorter. Our OAM sorter can separate two OAM states with different topological charges without destroying them. Because it is composed of several linear commonly optical elements, which can be closely pasted together, our OAM sorter is very compact and sturdy. Furthermore, by means of cascading, our design can be used for constructing an OAM sorter with multiple output ports. Therefore, our research should have great potential application prospects, especially in the communication protocol based on OAM.

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.

Single photons with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have attracted substantial attention from researchers. A single photon can carry infinite OAM values theoretically. Thus, OAM photon states have been widely used in quantum information and fundamental quantum mechanics. Although there have been many methods for sorting quantum states with different OAM values, the nondestructive and efficient sorter of high-dimensional OAM remains a fundamental challenge. Here, we propose a scalable OAM sorter which can categorize different OAM states simultaneously, meanwhile, preserving both OAM and spin angular momentum. Fundamental elements of the sorter are composed of symmetric multiport beam splitters (BSs) and Dove prisms with cascading structure, which in principle can be flexibly and effectively combined to sort arbitrarily high-dimensional OAM photons. The scalable structures proposed here greatly reduce the number of BSs required for sorting high-dimensional OAM states. In view of the nondestructive and extensible features, the sorters can be used as fundamental devices not only for high-dimensional quantum information processing, but also for traditional optics.