Experimental Control of the Orbital Angular Momentum of Single and Entangled Photons (Englisch)

This chapter explains a quantum communication scheme that will allow a better understanding of the potential of higher dimensional quantum systems for practical applications. The chapter tries to give a more detailed introduction to the experimental techniques of controlling the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons. It reviews the relation of the paraxial OAM modes with other sets of solutions of the electromagnetic field, showing the link between OAM and the total angular momentum of the light field. Then, it describes some of the techniques to control the OAM state of single and entangled photons. Finally, the chapter ends with the description of some applications and the possibilities of using the OAM of photons to study new physical phenomena.

angular momentum; channel capacity; electromagnetic field theory; photons