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Counter-Propagating SPDC Photon Pair with Correlated OAM

Rodrigo Amorim, Tim Julian Wörmann, Andrius Žukauskas, Lars Grüner-Nielsen, Valdas Pašiškevičius, Karsten K. Rottwitt

Published Jan 1, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, how orbital angular momentum of the pump beam is transferred to the signal and idler photons in a counterpropagating SPDC process.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_fs.2026.fth4a.7

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We report orbital angular momentum (OAM) and angle correlations between signal and idler photons observed when the nonlinear crystal used in spontaneous parametric down-conversion is illuminated by a non-fundamental Gaussian pump beam. We introduce a π-phase step to the transverse profile of the pump, before it impinges on the crystal to create a phase-flipped Gaussian mode, which is a close approximation to an HG10 Hermite–Gaussian-like beam. The correlations in OAM and angular position are then measured holographically using two separate spatial light modulators in the signal and idler arms. We show the transfer of the OAM spectrum of the pump to the down-converted fields, manifested as a redistribution in the OAM correlations consistent with OAM conservation. This corresponds to a modulation of the angular position correlations consistent with the Fourier relationship between the OAM and angle.
Abstract Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is the most widely used process for generating photon pairs entangled in various degrees of freedom such as polarization, time-energy, position-transverse momentum, and angle-orbital angular momentum (OAM). In SPDC, a pump photon interacts with a non-linear optical crystal and splits into two entangled photons called the signal and the idler photons. The SPDC process has been studied extensively in the last few decades for various pump and crystal configurations, and the entangled photon pairs produced by SPDC have been used in numerous experimental studies on quantum entanglement and entanglement-based real-world quantum-information applications. In this tutorial article, we present a thorough study of phase matching in BBO crystals for spontaneous parametric down-conversion and thereby also investigate the generation of entangled photons in such crystals. First, we present a theoretical derivation of two-photon wavefunction produced by SPDC in the frequency and transverse momentum bases. We then discuss in detail the effects due to various crystal and pump parameters including the length of the crystal, the angle between the optic axis and the pump propagation direction, the pump incidence angle on the crystal surface, the refraction at the crystal surfaces, and the pump propagation direction inside the crystal. These effects are extremely relevant in experimental situations. We then present our numerical and experimental results in order to illustrate how various experimental parameters affect the phase matching and thus the generation of entangled photons. Finally, using the two-photon wavefunction in the transverse wave-vector basis, we show how to derive the two-photon wavefunction in the OAM basis and thereby calculate the two-photon angular Schmidt spectrum. We expect this article to be useful for researchers working in various capacities with entangled photons generated by SPDC in BBO crystals.