High-dimensional angular two-photon interference and angular qudit states

Using angular position-orbital angular momentum entangled photons, we propose an experiment to generate maximally entangled states in D-dimensional quantum systems, the so called qudits, by exploiting correlations of parametric down-converted photons. Angular diffraction masks containing N angular slits in the arms of each twin photon define a qudit space of dimension N-2, spanned by the alternative pathways of the photons. Numerical results for N angular slits with N = 2,4,5,10 are reported. We discuss relevant experimental parameters for an experimental implementation of the proposed scheme using Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs), and twin-photons produced by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC). The entanglement of the qudit state can be quantified in terms of the Concurrence, which can be expressed in terms of the visibility of the interference fringes, or by using Entanglement Witnesses. These results provide an additional means for preparing entangled quantum states in high-dimensions, a fundamental resource for quantum simulation and quantum information protocols. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement