Simultaneous entanglement swapping of multiple orbital angular momentum states of light

Zhang, Y., Agnew, M., Roger, T., Roux, F. S., Konrad, T., Faccio, D. , Leach, J. and Forbes, A. (2017) Simultaneous entanglement swapping of multiple orbital angular momentum states of light. Nature Communications, 8, 632. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00706-1) (PMID:28935969) (PMCID:PMC5608840)

Abstract

High-bit-rate long-distance quantum communication is a proposed technology for future communication networks and relies on high-dimensional quantum entanglement as a core resource. While it is known that spatial modes of light provide an avenue for high-dimensional entanglement, the ability to transport such quantum states robustly over long distances remains challenging. To overcome this, entanglement swapping may be used to generate remote quantum correlations between particles that have not interacted; this is the core ingredient of a quantum repeater, akin to repeaters in optical fibre networks. Here we demonstrate entanglement swapping of multiple orbital angular momentum states of light. Our approach does not distinguish between different anti-symmetric states, and thus entanglement swapping occurs for several thousand pairs of spatial light modes simultaneously. This work represents the first step towards a quantum network for high-dimensional entangled states and provides a test bed for fundamental tests of quantum science.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Faccio, Professor Daniele and Leach, Mr Jonathan
• Authors: Zhang, Y., Agnew, M., Roger, T., Roux, F. S., Konrad, T., Faccio, D., Leach, J., and Forbes, A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Published Online: 21 September 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 8:632
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License