Efficient generation and control of different order orbital angular momentum states for communication links

Abstract

We present a novel optical device to encode and decode two bits of information into different Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) states of a paraxial optical beam. Our device generates the four angular momentum states of order $\pm 2$ and $\pm 4$ by Spin-To-Orbital angular momentum Conversion (STOC) in a triangular optical loop arrangement. The switching among the four OAM states is obtained by changing the polarization state of the circulating beam by two quarter wave plates and the two-bit information is transferred to the beam OAM exploiting a single $q$-plate. The polarization of the exit beam is left free for additional one bit of information. The transmission bandwidth of the device may be as large as several megahertz if electro-optical switches are used to change the beam polarization. This may be particularly useful in communication system based on light OAM.

5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Submitted

References in corpus (4)

• Optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in inhomogeneous anisotropic media
• Pancharatnam-Berry phase optical elements for wavefront shaping in the visible domain: switchable helical modes generation
• Optimal quantum cloning of orbital angular momentum photon qubits via Hong-Ou-Mandel coalescence
• Experimental generation and characterization of single-photon hybrid ququarts based on polarization-orbital angular momentum encoding

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Free Space Optical Polarization De-multiplexing and Multiplexing by means of Conical Refraction
• Topological photonic orbital angular momentum switch
• Reliable experimental certification of one-way Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering
• High-fidelity quantum gates for OAM qudits on quantum memory
• Optical mode conversion via spatiotemporally modulated atomic susceptibility