Manipulation of Semiclassical Laguerre-Gaussian Modes: a Model Case

Abstract

We continue the study, from a semiclassical viewpoint, of Calvo and Picon's operators, as manipulating photon states in quantum communication. In a previous paper, we defined a one-dimensional model operator and studied it analytically before moving on to Calvo and Picon's full two-dimensional operators. In the present paper, we show how the one-dimensional operator may also be useful as an experimental model, since it allows manipulations of two-dimensional Laguerre-Gaussian modes; the intensity distributions (in physical space) of the Laguerre-Gaussian modes then approximately flow along the elliptic curves studied earlier. Since the Wigner transform is fundamental in the study of Laguerre-Gaussian modes, we give a slightly expanded and improved treatment of the semiclassical Wigner transform, which was only briefly mentioned in the previous paper.