title: Influence of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of quantum states of light using plane-wave encoding.
abstract: We consider the possibility of performing quantum key distribution (QKD) by encoding information onto individual photons using plane-wave basis states. We compare the results of this calculation to those obtained by earlier workers, who considered encoding using OAM-carrying vortex modes of the field. We find theoretically that plane-wave encoding is less strongly influenced by atmospheric turbulence than is OAM encoding, with potentially important implications for free-space quantum key distribution.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA. boydrw@mac.com
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodenburg
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirhosseini
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Barnett