Generation of few photons and photon pairs with engineered beams carrying angular momentum

Cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) are a class of non-conventional beams of laser light that exhibit spatially varying polarization properties and zero intensity along the propagation axis. CVBs have received significant interest due to their peculiar focusing properties when used in combination with high numerical aperture optics. CVBs are also especially important at the limit of few photons/photon pairs for applications in quantum information processing and quantum data storage. The main objective is to develop new effective techniques (combined with beam shaping and nonlinear optics) for the generation of novel photon beams carrying angular momentum, and to control this spatial degree of freedom of light so to create the entanglement of the intrinsic angular momentum of photon pairs. Based on preliminary results, a new type of photon emitters can be realized, and this can be turned into a new line of products for our partner, OptoElectronic Components Inc., giving it a strong commercial advantage.

Faculty Supervisor:

Roberto Morandotti

Student:

Yanbing Zhang

Partner:

OptoElectronic Components

Discipline:

Physics / Astronomy

Sector:

Advanced manufacturing

University:

Université INRS