EPJ D - Reshaping Quantum Light

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Published on 03 January 2011

A photon is not a point: its wavepacket stretches out in space. In the classical limit, this spatial profile is governed by Maxwell's equations, and reshaping it has been a goal in optics since Galileo's invention of the telescope. In this paper, Morizur and his colleagues describe a new Unitary Programmable Mode Converter, a device capable of changing the spatial shape of quantum light at will without introducing loss in the beam.

Losses are particularly detrimental in quantum science because they destroy the non-classical nature of a beam with a well ordered flux of photons. The authors tested their device on such a beam of photons, successfully reshaping the wavepacket while retaining the non-classical nature of the flux. By efficiently adapting the spatial shape of the light emitted from a quantum light source, this device paves the way for the use of non-classical light to enhance optical measurements and microscopy.