Contextuality in spin-orbit laser modes

Abstract

We experimentally observed the violation of Kujula-Dzhafarov noncontextuality inequalities by non-separable spin-orbit laser modes. Qubits are encoded on polarization and transverse modes of an intense laser beam. A spin-orbit non-separable mode was produced by means of a radial polarization converter (S-plate). The results show that contextuality can be investigated by using spin-orbit modes in a simple way, corroborating recent works stating that such system can emulate single-photon experiments. Additionally, an improvement in the non-separable mode preparation allowed us to observe a greater violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality for such system. The results are in very good agreement with the theoretical predictions of quantum mechanics.

8 pages, 4 Figures