A global group of scientists, including researchers from the UAB, has published a new review in Nature Photonics exploring a rapidly developing area of research called quantum structured light. This field is changing how information can be sent, measured, and processed by combining quantum physics with carefully designed patterns of light in space and time. By doing so, researchers can create photons capable of carrying far more information than traditional light.
The review explains that light can be controlled through several properties at once, including polarization, spatial modes, and frequency. By manipulating these different degrees of freedom, scientists can generate high-dimensional quantum states. In these systems, familiar qubits (two-dimensional, with photons in superposition of two quantum states) are replaced by qudits (with more than two dimensions). This shift greatly expands the range of possibilities for quantum technologies.
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