Quantum skyrmion parallelism via metasurface-tailored high-dimensional entanglement

Abstract

Quantum skyrmions are topological structures that have garnered significant interest due to their demonstrated robustness and versatility across diverse optical platforms. However, existing approaches for their generation are limited to producing pre-determined two dimensional qubit states with a single topology. Here we create multi-dimensional topological states by introducing a non-local interaction between high-dimensional photonic entanglement and a metasurface, where the topological transformation induced by the metasurface is made non-deterministic by the probabilistic nature of the interfacing entangled state. Within this framework, we demonstrate that individual quantum states can host multiple co-existing topologies that are only revealed upon measurement, allowing for their parallel transport within distinct spatial mode channels. We confirm this by revealing the rich topological landscape within our modified Hilbert space while controlling the desired output topology by orbital angular momentum (OAM) projections on one of the entangled photons, producing multiple non-local polarization-OAM entangled states characterized by distinct topological classes, all from a single metasurface device. Our results reveal new capability when structured high-dimensional entanglement is interfaced with structured matter capable of coupling photonic degrees of freedom, establishing a new pathway for the compact generation of complex quantum states.