Entanglement protection of high-dimensional states by adaptive optics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that adaptive optics can effectively protect high-dimensional entangled photonic states from turbulence-induced distortions, enabling secure quantum communication under challenging conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a method using adaptive optics to preserve entanglement in high-dimensional OAM states against atmospheric turbulence.

Findings

AO reduces crosstalk among OAM modes

AO decreases entanglement decay and photon losses

AO-stabilized states violate Bell inequalities under strong turbulence

Abstract

We study the potential of adaptive optics (AO) to protect entanglement of high-dimensional photonic orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) states against turbulence-induced phase distortions. We demonstrate that AO is able to reduce crosstalk among the OAM modes and, consequently, the entanglement decay as well as photon losses. A test of the AO-stabilized output state against high-dimensional Bell inequalities shows that the transmitted entanglement allows for secure communication, even in the strong scintillation regime.