Measuring the nonseparability of vector vortex beams
Measuring the nonseparability of vector vortex beams
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DOI：
10.1103/physreva.92.023833
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发表时间：
2015-08-18
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Forbes, Andrew
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
McLaren, Melanie;Konrad, Thomas;Forbes, Andrew
矢量光束具有不可分离的空间和偏振自由度的定义属性，并且现在常规地在实验室中产生并用于无数应用中。在这里，我们利用这种光束的不可分离性，类似于量子态的纠缠，将传统上与量子测量相关的工具应用于这些经典领域。我们发现，纠缠熵是一个代理的平均偏振度，从而提供了一个单一的数字，这样的光束的矢量性质。除了提供分析矢量光束的工具外，我们还探讨了经典纠缠的概念，以解释为什么这些工具是合适的。
Vector beams have the defining property of nonseparable spatial and polarization degrees of freedom and are now routinely generated in the laboratory and used in a myriad of applications. Here we exploit the nonseparability of such beams, akin to entanglement of quantum states, to apply tools traditionally associated with quantum measurements to these classical fields. We find that the entanglement entropy is a proxy for the average degree of polarization and thus provides a single number for the vector nature of such beams. In addition to providing tools for the analysis of vector beams, we also explore the concept of classical entanglement to explain why these tools are appropriate in the first place.