Experimental demonstration of complex four-wave mixing processes with pump of orbital-angular-momentum superposition mode

Abstract

Orbital angular momentum (OAM), characterized by a topological charge ℓ (ℓ integer), serves as a promising vehicle for carrying quantum information. Generating a nonclassical field involving two or more OAM modes can largely enhance the data-carrying capacity of quantum information processing. In this Letter, we present the implementation of a four-wave mixing (FWM) process, featuring a pump beam of a coherent OAM superposition mode and a probe beam of a single OAM mode. We generate twin beams encompassing multiple OAM modes and illustrate their quantum correlation when the pump beam assumes different coherent OAM superposition modes. Furthermore, we analyze the OAM mode components in each output field to deepen our understanding of the nonlinear interaction among different OAM modes. The obtained results show the rich structure of the nonlinear interaction of OAM modes in the FWM process and provide a perspective to study quantum information protocols.