Quantum information transfer from spin to orbital angular momentum of photons.
The optical "spin-orbit" coupling occurring in a suitably patterned nonuniform birefringent plate known as a "q plate" allows entangling the polarization of a single photon with its orbital angular momentum (OAM). This process, in turn, can be exploited for building a bidirectional "spin-OAM interface," capable of transposing the quantum information from the spin to the OAM degree of freedom of photons and vice versa. Here, we experimentally demonstrate this process by single-photon quantum tomographic analysis. Moreover, we show that two-photon quantum correlations such as those resulting from coalescence interference can be successfully transferred into the OAM degree of freedom.
Nagali
Eleonora
E
Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università La Sapienza and Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze Fisiche della Materia, Roma 00185, Italy.
Sciarrino
Fabio
F
De Martini
Francesco
F
Marrucci
Lorenzo
L
Piccirillo
Bruno
B
Karimi
Ebrahim
E
Santamato
Enrico
E