Heralded generation of vectorially structured photons with high purity

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact, robust device that generates and manipulates high-purity, vectorially structured single photons with well-defined spin-orbit states, advancing high-dimensional quantum photonics.

Contribution

It introduces a self-locking polarizing interferometer with a spatial light modulator for high-purity, heralded vector photon generation and manipulation.

Findings

High-purity vector photon generation achieved

Exact conversion into desired spin-orbit states demonstrated

Device enables versatile manipulation of photonic states

Abstract

Engineering vector spatial modes of photons is an important approach for manipulating high-dimension photonic states in various quantum optical experiments. In this work, we demonstrate generation of heralded single photons with well-defined vector spatial modes by using a self-locking polarizing interferometer comprising a spatial light modulator. Specifically, it is shown that, by carefully tailoring and compensating spatial and temporal amplitudes of manipulated photons, one can exactly convert ultrafast single photons into desired spin-orbit states with extremely high purity. This compact and robust device provides a versatile way for not only generation, but also manipulation and characterization of arbitrary photonic spin-orbit states.