An experimental measurement of the topological charge of orbital angular momentum beams through weak measurement

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an experimental method using weak measurement to accurately determine the topological charge of orbital angular momentum beams within a range of -14 to 14, without collapsing the quantum state.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental scheme for measuring the topological charge of OAM beams via weak measurement, expanding measurement capabilities.

Findings

Successfully measured TC of OAM beams from -14 to 14

Demonstrated minimal disturbance to the quantum state during measurement

Validated the effectiveness of weak measurement for topological charge detection

Abstract

As a special experimental technique, weak measurement extracts very little information about the measured system and will not cause the measured state collapse. When coupling the orbital angular momentum (OAM) state with a well-defined pre-selected and post-selected system of a weak measurement process, there is an indirect coupling between position and topological charge (TC) of OAM state. Based on these ideas, we propose an experimental scheme that experimentally measure the TC of OAM beams from -14 to 14 through weak measurement.