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Near-field photon entanglement in total angular momentum

Author

Listed:
  • Amit Kam

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Shai Tsesses

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Yigal Ilin

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Kobi Cohen

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Yaakov Lumer

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Lior Fridman

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Stav Lotan

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Anatoly Patsyk

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Liat Nemirovsky-Levy

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Meir Orenstein

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Mordechai Segev

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

  • Guy Bartal

    (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Photons can carry angular momentum, which is conventionally attributed to two constituents—spin angular momentum (SAM), which is an intrinsic property related to the polarization, and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which is related to the photon spatial distribution. In paraxial optics, these two forms of angular momentum are separable1, such that entanglement can be induced between the SAM and the OAM of a single photon2,3 or of different photons in a multi-photon state4. In nanophotonic systems, however, the SAM and the OAM of a photon are inseparable5,6, so only the total angular momentum (TAM) serves as a good quantum number7–9. Here we present the observation of non-classical correlations between two photons in the near-field regime, giving rise to entanglement related to the TAM. We entangle those nanophotonic states by coupling photon pairs to plasmonic modes and use quantum imaging techniques10,11 to measure their correlations. We observe that entanglement in TAM leads to a completely different structure of quantum correlations of photon pairs, compared with entanglement related to the two constituent angular momenta. This work paves the way for on-chip quantum information processing using the TAM of photons as the encoding property for quantum information.

Suggested Citation

  • Amit Kam & Shai Tsesses & Yigal Ilin & Kobi Cohen & Yaakov Lumer & Lior Fridman & Stav Lotan & Anatoly Patsyk & Liat Nemirovsky-Levy & Meir Orenstein & Mordechai Segev & Guy Bartal, 2025. "Near-field photon entanglement in total angular momentum," Nature, Nature, vol. 640(8059), pages 634-640, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:640:y:2025:i:8059:d:10.1038_s41586-025-08761-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08761-1
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