Photons in polychromatic rotating modes

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum theory for polychromatic rotating light beams, identifying three types of rotating modes, including a novel one, and explores their potential applications in quantum information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive quantum framework for rotating light modes, including a new mode type, and discusses their properties and applications in quantum information.

Findings

Identification of three natural types of rotating modes, including a new mode.

Analysis of differences between rotating and non-rotating modes in a rotating frame.

Proposal of a rotating two-photon singlet state for quantum information.

Abstract

We propose a quantum theory of rotating light beams and study some of its properties. Such beams are polychromatic and have either a slowly rotating polarization or a slowly rotating transverse mode pattern. We show there are, for both cases, three different natural types of modes that qualify as rotating, one of which is a new type not previously considered. We discuss differences between these three types of rotating modes on the one hand and non-rotating modes as viewed from a rotating frame of reference on the other. We present various examples illustrating the possible use of rotating photons, mostly for quantum information processing purposes. We introduce in this context a rotating version of the two-photon singlet state.