A team from Wits (South Africa) and HUST (China) show that multi-dimensional quantum communications with twisted light is possible down legacy fiber networks.
New research done at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Huazhang University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, has exciting implications for secure data transfer across optical fiber networks. The team have demonstrated that multiple quantum patterns of twisted light can be transmitted across a conventional fiber link that, paradoxically, supports only one pattern. The implication is a new approach to realizing a future quantum network, harnessing multiple dimensions of entangled quantum light.
Science Advances today, published online the research by a team led by Professor Andrew Forbes from the School of Physics at Wits University in collaboration with a team led by Professor Jian Wang at HUST. In their paper titled: Multi-dimensional entanglement transport through single-mode fiber, the researchers demonstrate a new paradigm for realizing a future quantum network. The team showed that multiple patterns of light are accessible after a communication link of conventional optical fiber, that paradoxically can only support a single pattern. The team achieved this quantum trick by engineering entanglement in two degrees of freedom of light, polarization, and pattern, passing the polarized photon down the fiber and accessing the many patterns with the other photon.
“In essence, the research introduces the concept of communicating across legacy fiber networks with multi-dimensional entangled states, bringing together the benefits of existing quantum communication with polarized photons with that of high-dimension communication using patterns of light,” says Forbes.
A new twist, a new paradigm
Present communication systems are very fast, but not fundamentally secure. To make them secure researchers use the laws of Nature for encoding by exploiting the quirky properties of the quantum world, such as in the case of the use of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for secure communication.
“Quantum” here refers to the spooky action at a distance so abhorred by Einstein: quantum entanglement. In the last few decades, quantum entanglement has been extensively explored for a variety of quantum information protocols, notably making communication more secure through QKD. Using so-called “qubits” (2D quantum states) the information capacity is limited but it is easy to get such states across fiber links using polarization as a degree of freedom for the encoding. The spatial pattern of light, its pattern, is another degree of freedom that has the benefit of high-dimensional encoding. There are many patterns to use, but unfortunately, this requires custom fiber optic cable and so unsuitable to already existing networks. In the present work, the team have found a new way to balance these two extremes, by combining polarization qubits with high-dimensional spatial modes to create multi-dimensional hybrid quantum states.
“The trick was to twist the one photon in polarization and twist the other in pattern, forming “spirally light” that is entangled in two degrees of freedom,” says Forbes. “Since the polarization entangled photon has only one pattern it could be sent down the long-distance single-mode fiber (SMF), while the twisted light photon could be measured without the fiber, accessing multi-dimensional twisted patterns in the free-space. These twists carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), a promising candidate for encoding information.”
Overcoming the present challenges
Quantum communication with high-dimensional spatial modes (for example OAM modes) is promising but only possible in specially designed multi-mode fiber, which, however, is greatly limited by mode (pattern) coupling noise. Single-mode fiber is free of this “pattern coupling” (which degrades entanglement) but can only be used for two-dimensional polarization entanglement.
“The novelty in the published work is the demonstration of multi-dimensional entanglement transport in conventional single-mode fiber. The light is twisted in two degrees of freedom: the polarization is twisted to form spirally light, and so is the pattern. This is referred to as spin-orbit coupling, here exploited for quantum communication,” says Forbes. “Each transmission is still only a qubit (2D) but there are an infinite number of them because of the infinite number of twisted patterns we could entangle in the other photon.”
The team demonstrated the transfer of multi-dimensional entanglement states over 250 m (820 ft) of single-mode fiber, showing that an infinite number of two-dimensional subspaces could be realized. Each subspace could be used for sending information, or multiplexing information to multiple receivers.
“A consequence of this new approach is that the entire high-dimensional OAM Hilbert space can be accessed, but two dimensions at a time. In some sense it is a compromise between simple 2D approaches and true high-dimensional approaches,” says Forbes. Importantly, high-dimensional states are unsuitable for transmission over conventional fiber networks, whereas this new approach allows legacy networks to be used.
Reference: “Multidimensional entanglement transport through single-mode fiber” by Jun Liu, Isaac Nape, Qainke Wang, Adam Vallés, Jian Wang and Andrew Forbes, 24 January 2020, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay0837
Abstract:
The global quantum network requires the distribution of entangled states over long distances, with significant advances already demonstrated using polarization, reaching approximately 1200 km (745 mi) in free space and 100 km in optical fiber. While Hilbert spaces with higher dimensionality, e.g., spatial modes of light, allows higher information capacity per photon, such spatial mode entanglement transport requires custom multimode fiber and is limited by decoherence induced mode coupling. Here we circumvent this by transporting multi-dimensional entangled states down conventional single-mode fiber (SMF). We achieve this by entangling the spin-orbit degrees of freedom of a bi- photon pair, passing the polarization (spin) photon down the SMF while accessing multiple orbital angular momentum (orbital) subspaces with the other, thereby realizing multi-dimensional entanglement transport. We show high fidelity hybrid entanglement preservation down 250 m (820 ft) of SMF across multiple 2 × 2 dimensions, which we confirm by quantum state tomography, Bell violation measures, and a novel quantum eraser scheme. This work offers an alternative approach to spatial mode entanglement transport that facilitates deployment in legacy networks across conventional fiber.
5 Comments
Wow this is a really complicated way of saying that if I twist different coloured whipper snipper cord after dipping it in rust remover and uv setting lacquor a few times then electrofy it with alternating current after entangling it with an argon or copperfield …..my carpet.will float propel turn invisible, then burn out and I will fall, electric guitars…flying disks, Green screens, I am literally at a loss because I need to make money but there’s so much dangerous stuff to prototype. Thanksed for delearnings
I don’t wanna entangle a photon, when I can entangle a tardis drone with a scaled controll drone on a photon through the eye of a needle, from inside the box or from the other side of infinity
And here I am trying to grow plants really quick with stairways to heavon, raised to not believe in Santa, when origami with aluminium cans causes holographic projection and all types of bigenings and stuff that ain’t quite in the right timespace allocation, …yogic breathing.
Just incase Santa’s sled never really flew, you owe me for inventing warp drive…roflmao
Using peat, will Zinc picolinate bath salt from galvinsed Steel onto Gold foil?, In a copper feild, I believe that adding this to uv setting should protect some from Zinc repolarization, reducing the prostate bloom, be careful if you have lots of sulfer and styrofoam handy, or sugarsoap and copper sulfate. Tmnt…….