title: Amplitude damping of Laguerre-Gaussian modes.
abstract: We present an amplitude damping channel for Laguerre-Gaussian modes. Our channel is tested experimentally for a Laguerre-Gaussian mode, having an azimuthal index l = 1, illustrating that it decays to a Gaussian mode in good agreement with the theoretical model for amplitude damping. Since we are able to characterize the action of such a channel on orbital angular momentum states, we propose using it to investigate the dynamics of entanglement.
authors.affiliation: CSIR National Laser Centre, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dudley
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nock
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konrad
authors.forename: Filippus S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forbes