Classical entanglement of vector vortex beams

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Classicalentanglementofvectorvortexbeams

MelanieMcLarena,ThomasKonradbandAndrewForbesa

aSchoolofPhysics,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand,PrivateBag3,Johannesburg2050,

SouthAfrica;

bUniversityofKwazulu-Natal,PrivateBagX54001,Durban4000,SouthAfrica

ABSTRACT

Vectorbeamsaredefinedbyspatiallyinhomogeneousstatesofpolarization,thatis,thespatialdistributionand

polarizationstateofthebeamarenon-separable.Thesebeamshavefoundinterestinavarietyofopticalfields

suchasmicroscopy,interferometryandopticaltweezing.Itisthereforeimportanttodeterminethedegreeto

whichthesebeamsarenon-separableortodeterminethevectornessofsuchbeams.Weshowthatthenon-

separabilityofvectorbeamsisanalogoustothatofentangledquantumstatesandassuch,weusetraditionally

quantumtechniquessuchasaBellinequality,todeterminethevectornessofourgeneratedvectorvortexbeams.

Keywords:Vectorbeams,orbitalangularmomentum,polarization

1.INTRODUCTION

Lightbeamswithspatiallyinhomogeneousstatesofpolarization,referredtoasvectorbeams,haverecently

receivedincreasedinterestinavarietyoffields.Inparticular,cylindricallysymmetricvector(CV)beams

havetheabilitytoproducetighterfocalspots,findingapplicationsinmicroscopy,1interferometry2andoptical

tweezing.3ThelatteralsobenefitsfromthestrongerlongitudinalfieldsinCVbeams4wherealargegradientforce

iscreatedfromthestrongaxialcomponent.5CVmodeswerefirstdemonstratedinlasercavityresonators,6where

radiallypolarizedmodesweregenerated.Usinganopticalfiber,radially,azimuthallyandhybridpolarizedmodes

havealsobeendemonstrated.7Recently,generationmethodshaveincludedtheuseofliquidcrystaldisplays,8

interferometrictechniques9andq-plates.10

Thecouplingofpolarizationandspatialdistributioninvectormodesrequiresmethodsinwhicheitherone

orbothpropertiesaredetermined.Therehasbeenagreatdealofworkindeterminingthemodalcontentofa

beam.11–13Variousmodeanalysistechniqueshavebeendemonstratedmakinguseofnumericalroutines,14and

multi-modeinterference,15aswellasmodaldecompositionusingthecorrelationfiltermethodtostudyoptical

fibres16,17andorbitalangularmomentumdistributions.18,19

ThestateofpolarizationofabeamiscommonlymeasuredusingStokespolarimetrywhere,ateachpointof

thebeam,thepolarizationorientationandellipticitycanbecalculated.20Stokespolarimetryhasalsobeenused

onpropagatingbeamstoreconstructthewavefronts,allowingthemovementofopticalvorticestobeobserved.21

Stokespolarimetryhasbeenusedtostudythepolarizationtopologicalstructuresfordifferentvectorvortex

beams10andhasbeenusedtodemonstratetheself-healingpropertyofvectorBesselbeams,notonlyinintensity

butalsothespatialinhomogeneousstatesofpolarization.22

Avectormodecanbeeasilydistinguishedfromitsscalarcounterpartbyobservingtheeffectofapolarizeron

thespatialdistributionofthemode.Ascalarbeamincidentonapolarizerwillleavethespatialdistributionof

thebeamunaffectedandsimplevarytheintensityofthefield.Thespatialdistributionofavectormodeonthe

otherhand,willbealtereddependingontheorientationofthepolarizer.Figure1showstheeffectofapolarizer

orientatedtotransmithorizontallypolarizedlightonthespatialdistributionsoftwodifferentvectorbeams:

radiallyandazimuthallypolarized.TheresultantmodesinFig.1(c)and(f)arebothhorizontallypolarizedbut

havedifferentspatialdistributions.

Furtherauthorinformation:(SendcorrespondencetoA.F.)A.F.:E-mail:andrew.forbes@wits.ac.za,Telephone:+27117176848

Laser Beam Shaping XVI, edited by Andrew Forbes, Todd E. Lizotte, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9581958106 · © 2015 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/15/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.2187915Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9581 958106-1

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Figure1.Schematicshowingthespatialdependencyofavectorbeamonthepolarizationstate.Threedifferentmodes,(a)ascalar,verticallypolarizedvortexmode,(b)Aradiallypolarizedvectorbeamand(c)anazimuthallypolarizedvectorbeam,incidentonapolarizerorientedtotransmithorizontallypolarizedlightproducethreedifferentresults:(d)nomeasuredintensity,(e)twopetalsorientatedalongthehorizontalaxisand(f)twopetalsorientatedalongtheverticalaxis.

Hereweemployedmeasurementtechniquesmorecommonlyassociatedwithquantumentanglementexper-

imentstodeterminethedegreetowhichavectorbeamisnon-separableinspatialmodeandpolarization,in

otherwords,thedegreeofvectornessofthefield.JustasaBellinequalitymeasurementdistinguishesbetween

quantumandclassicalcorrelationsinthefieldofentanglement,23adifferentiationbetweenapurelyscalarand

vectorbeamcanalsobedemonstrated.Thatis,aviolationofaBell-typeinequalityindicatesavectorbeam.

Afullstatetomography,24torecoverthedensitymatrixofthefield,allowsthedegreetowhichthefieldisa

vectorbeamtobecalculated.Inanentanglementsetup,separateprojectionsofthesamepropertyareperformed