Polarization-orbital angular momentum duality assisted entanglement observation for indistinguishable photons

Abstract

Duality in the entanglement of identical particles manifests that entanglement in only one variable can be revealed at a time. We demonstrate this using polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) variables of indistinguishable photons generated from parametric down conversion. We show polarization entanglement by sorting photons in even and odd OAM basis, while sorting them in two orthogonal polarization modes reveals the OAM entanglement. The duality assisted observation of entanglement can be used as a verification for the preservation of quantum indistinguishability over communication channels. Indistinguishable photons entangled in complementary variables could also evoke interest in distributed quantum sensing protocols and remote entanglement generation.