arXiv subjects

Zhi-Cheng Ren

Publications and source records attributed to Zhi-Cheng Ren.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Third-harmonic generation of spatially structured light in a quasi-periodically poled crystal

Nonlinear optical processes of spatially structured light, including optical vortex and vector optical fields, have stimulated a lot of interesting physical effects and found a variety of important applications ranging from optical imaging to quantum information processing. However, high harmonic generation of vector optical fields with space-varying polarization states is still a challenge. Here we demonstrate third harmonic generation of spatially structured light including vector optical fields, in a nonlinear Sagnac interferometer containing a carefully designed quasi-periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate for the first time. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. Our results will enable to manipulate spatially structured light or photons at new wavelengths and carrying higher orbital angular momentum. Our approach has the potential applications for the research of optical skyrmions and may open up new opportunities to produce spatially structured entangled photons for quantum communication and computation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Experimental self-testing for photonic graph states

Graph states -- one of the most representative families of multipartite entangled states, are important resources for multiparty quantum communication, quantum error correction, and quantum computation. Device-independent certification of highly entangled graph states plays a prominent role in the quantum information processing tasks. Here we have experimentally demonstrated device-independent certification for multipartite graph states, by adopting the robust self-testing scheme based on scalable Bell inequalities. Specifically, the prepared multi-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and linear cluster states achieve a high degree of Bell violation, which are beyond the nontrivial bounds of the robust self-testing scheme. Furthermore, our work paves the way to the device-independent certification of complex multipartite quantum states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Polarization interferometric prism: a versatile tool for generation of vector fields, measurement of topological charges and implementation of a spin-orbit Controlled-Not gate

Optical vortex and vector field are two important types of structured optical fields. Due to their wide applications and unique features in many scientific realms, the generation, manipulation and measurement of such fields have attracted significant interest and become very important topics. However, most ways to generate vector fields have a trade-off among flexibility, efficiency, stability, and simplicity. Meanwhile, an easy and direct way to measure the topological charges, especially for high order optical vortex, is still a challenge. Here we design and manufacture a prism: polarization interferometric prism (PIP) as a single-element interferometer, which can conveniently convert an optical vortex to vector fields with high efficiency and be utilized to precisely measure the topological charge (both absolute value and sign) of an arbitrary optical vortex, even with a high order. Experimentally we generate a variety of vector fields with global fidelity ranging from 0.963 to 0.993 and measure the topological charge of an optical vortex by counting the number of petals uniformly distributed over a ring on the output intensity patterns. As a versatile tool to generate, manipulate and detect the spin-orbital state of single photons, PIP can also work in single-photon regime for quantum information processing. In experiment, the PIP is utilized as a spin-orbit Controlled-Not gate on the generated 28 two-qubit states, achieving the state fidelities ranging from 0.966 to 0.995 and demonstrating the feasibility of the PIP for single photons.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Arbitrary orbital angular momentum of photons

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons, as a new fundamental degree of freedom, has excited a great diversity of interest, because of a variety of emerging applications. Arbitrarily tunable OAM has gained much attention, but its creation remains still a tremendous challenge. We demonstrate the realization of well-controlled arbitrary OAM in both theory and experiment. We present the concept of general OAM, which extends the OAM carried by the scalar vortex field to the OAM carried by the azimuthally varying polarized vector field. The arbitrary OAM has the same characteristics as the well-defined integer OAM: intrinsic OAM, uniform local OAM and intensity ring, and propagation stability. The arbitrary OAM has unique natures: it is allowed to be flexibly tailored and the radius of the focusing ring can have various choices for a desired OAM, which are of great significance to the benefit of surprising applications of the arbitrary OAM.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Trajectory-Based Unveiling of Angular Momentum of Photons

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle suggests that it is impossible to determine the trajectory of a quantum particle in the same way as a classical particle. However, we may still yield insight into novel behavior of photons based on the average photon trajectories (APTs). Here we explore the APTs of photons carrying spin angular momentum (SAM) and/or orbital angular momentum (OAM) under the paraxial condition. We define the helicity and differential helicity for unveiling the three-dimensional spiral structures of the APTs of photons. We clarify the novel behaviors of the APTs caused by the SAM and OAM as well as the SAM-OAM coupling. The APT concept is very helpful for profoundly understanding the motion of trapped particles and for elucidating other physical systems. Due to the presence of the helical path caused by the SAM and/or the OAM, the actual traveling distance of the photons might be much longer than the geometric distance.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Generalized Poincaré Sphere

We present a generalized Poincaré sphere (G sphere) and generalized Stokes parameters (G parameters), as a geometric representation, which unifies the descriptors of a variety of vector fields. Unlike the standard Poincaré sphere, the radial dimension in the G sphere is not used to describe the partially polarized field. The G sphere is constructed by extending the basic Jones vector basis to the general vector basis with the continuously changeable ellipticity (spin angular momentum, SAM) and the higher dimensional orbital angular momentum (OAM). The north and south poles of different spherical shell in the G sphere represent the pair of different orthogonal vector basis with different ellipticity (SAM) and the opposite OAM. The higher-order Poincaré spheres are just the two special spherical shells of the G sphere. We present a quite flexible scheme, which can generate all the vector fields described in the G sphere. The salient properties of this representation are able to treat the complicated geometric phase of arbitrary vector fields in the future.

physics.optics↗