Twisted photon entanglement through turbulent air across Vienna
- 2 November 2015
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 112 (46), 14197-14201
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1517574112
Abstract
Photons with a twisted phase front can carry a discrete, in principle, unbounded amount of orbital angular momentum (OAM). The large state space allows for complex types of entanglement, interesting both for quantum communication and for fundamental tests of quantum theory. However, the distribution of such entangled states over large distances was thought to be infeasible due to influence of atmospheric turbulence, indicating a serious limitation on their usefulness. Here we show that it is possible to distribute quantum entanglement encoded in OAM over a turbulent intracity link of 3 km. We confirm quantum entanglement of the first two higher-order levels (with OAM= ±± 1 ℏℏ and ±± 2 ℏℏ ). They correspond to four additional quantum channels orthogonal to all that have been used in long-distance quantum experiments so far. Therefore, a promising application would be quantum communication with a large alphabet. We also demonstrate that our link allows access to up to 11 quantum channels of OAM. The restrictive factors toward higher numbers are technical limitations that can be circumvented with readily available technologies.Keywords
Funding Information
- EC | European Research Council (SIQS Grant No. 600645 EU-FP7-ICT)
- Austrian Science Fund (SFB F40 (FOQUS))
- Austrian Academy of Sciences (x)
- Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft (x)
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