Weak measurements with orbital angular momentum pointer states

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that using orbital angular momentum (OAM) pointer states in weak measurements allows access to higher-order moments of quantum operators, enhancing information extraction and signal strength over traditional Gaussian pointers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method employing OAM pointer states for weak measurements, enabling the measurement of higher-order moments previously inaccessible with Gaussian states.

Findings

OAM pointer states enable extraction of higher-order moments.

The method improves signal strength and information retrieval.

Demonstrated with a specific quantum measurement example.

Abstract

Weak measurements are a unique tool for accessing information about weakly interacting quantum systems with minimal back action. Joint weak measurements of single-particle operators with pointer states characterized by a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution can provide, in turn, key information about quantum correlations which can be of relevance for quantum information applications. Here we demonstrate that by employing two-dimensional pointer states endowed with orbital angular momentum (OAM), it is possible to extract weak values of the higher order moments of single-particle operators, an inaccessible quantity with Gaussian pointer states only. We provide a specific example that illustrates the advantages of our method both, in terms of signal enhancement, and information retrieval.