2006/05/16 by Z. Hradil, J. Řeháček, J. Rehacek +6 · 3 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.243601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 243601 (2006) · 4 pages, two eps color figures. Submitted for publication
arxiv created 2006/05/16 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present an accurate description of the conjugate pair angle-angular momentum in terms of the exponential of the angle instead of the angle itself, which leads to dispersion as a natural measure of resolution. Intelligent states minimizing the uncertainty product under the constraint of a given uncertainty in angle or in angular momentum turn out to be given by Mathieu wave functions. We discuss Gaussian approximations to these optimal states in terms of von Mises distributions. The theory is successfully applied to the spatial degrees of freedom of a photon and verified in an experiment that employs computer-controlled spatial light modulators at both the state preparation and the analyzing stages.