Production of optical phase space vortices with non-locally distributed mode converters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel type of optical vortex that appears in the non-local phase space of entangled photon pairs, achieved through a distributed mode conversion process, expanding the understanding of optical vortices in quantum systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates the creation of non-local optical vortices of arbitrary order in entangled photons using a distributed mode converter, a new approach in quantum optics.

Findings

Non-local optical vortices can be generated in entangled photon pairs.

Arbitrary order vortices are achievable in the non-local phase space.

The method extends the control of quantum optical states.

Abstract

Optical vortices have been observed in a wide variety of optical systems. They can be observed directly in the wavefront of optical beams, or in the correlations between pairs of entangled photons. We present a novel optical vortex which appears in a non-local plane of the two-photon phase space, composed of a single degree of freedom of each photon of an entangled pair. The preparation of this vortex can be viewed as a "non-local" or distributed mode converter. We show how these novel optical vortices of arbitrary order can be prepared in the spatial degrees of freedom of entangled photons.