Spiniform phase-encoded metagratings entangling arbitrary rational-order orbital angular momentum.

Quantum entanglements between integer-order and fractional-order orbital angular momentums (OAMs) have been previously discussed. However, the entangled nature of arbitrary rational-order OAM has long been considered a myth due to the absence of an effective strategy for generating arbitrary rational-order OAM beams. Therefore, we report a single metadevice comprising a bilaterally symmetric grating with an aperture, creating optical beams with dynamically controllable OAM values that are continuously varying over a rational range.

Comparing the information capacity of Laguerre-Gaussian and Hermite-Gaussian modal sets in a finite-aperture system.

Using a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process to create entangled spatial states, we compare the information capacity associated with measurements in the Hermite-Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian modal basis in an optical system of finite aperture. We show that the cross-talk imposed by the aperture restriction degrades the information capacity. However, the Laguerre-Gaussian mode measurements show greater resilience to cross talk than the Hermite-Gaussian, suggesting that the Laguerre-Gaussian modal set may still offer real-world advantages over other modal sets.

Coherent Absorption of N00N States.

Recent results in deeply subwavelength thickness films demonstrate coherent control and logical gate operations with both classical and single-photon light sources. However, quantum processing and devices typically involve more than one photon and nontrivial input quantum states. Here we experimentally investigate two-photon N00N state coherent absorption in a multilayer graphene film.

Optics. Spatially structured photons that travel in free space slower than the speed of light.

That the speed of light in free space is constant is a cornerstone of modern physics. However, light beams have finite transverse size, which leads to a modification of their wave vectors resulting in a change to their phase and group velocities. We study the group velocity of single photons by measuring a change in their arrival time that results from changing the beam's transverse spatial structure.