We present here a compact scheme for the generation of high-dimensional states of light encoded in the path variable of photons that carry orbital angular momentum. We use a programmable spatial light modulator in phase configuration to create correlations between these two spatial degrees of freedom. With this setup we are able to control, independently, the relative phases and amplitudes of the path superposition in addition to the topological charge of each path. Moreover, we engineer correlations that emulate bipartite quantum states of dimensions d × m. Experimental results from the characterization of different generated states of dimensions up to 9×5 are in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations. Fidelity with the target state is, for all cases, above 95%.
We present an experimental optical implementation of a parallel-in-time discrete model of quantum evolution, based on the entanglement between the quantum system and a finite dimensional quantum clock. The setup is based on a programmable spatial light modulator which entangles the polarization and transverse spatial degrees of freedom of a single photon. It enables the simulation of a qubit history state containing the whole evolution of the system, capturing its main features in a simple and configurable scheme. We experimentally determine the associated system-time entanglement, which is a measure of distinguishable quantum evolution, and also the time average of observables, which in the present realization can be obtained through one single measurement.
We present a compact design to generate and test optical-vortex beams with possible applications in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The device consists of a diffractive mask where both the beam with orbital angular momentum and the reference wavefront to test its phase are generated. In order to show that the proposal would work in the EUV, simulations and proof-of-principle experiments were performed, using typical parameters for EUV holography scaled to visible wavelengths. As the simplest case, we consider the well-known Laguerre-Gaussian (LG)-like beams, which have a single vortex in the propagation axis. To further test the versatility of the device, we consider Mathieu beams, more complex structured beams that may contain several vortices. In the experiment, a spatial light modulator was used to display the mask. As examples, we show the results for a LG-like beam with topological charge ℓ=1 and Mathieu beams with topological charge ℓ=2 and ellipticity q=2. These results show the potential of the device to generate a variety of beam shapes at EUV wavelengths.
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