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  • Open Access

Generation of the complete Bell basis via Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of vector modes

Xiaoqin Gao1,*, Dilip Paneru1, Francesco Di Colandrea1,2,†, Yingwen Zhang1,3,‡, and Ebrahim Karimi1,3,4

  • *Present address: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China.
  • †Contact author: francesco.dicolandrea@unina.it
  • ‡Contact author: yzhang6@uottawa.ca
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Phys. Rev. A 112, 012215 – Published 17 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dcxb-ql1r

Abstract

Optical vector modes (VMs), characterized by spatially varying polarization distributions, have become essential tools across microscopy, metrology, optical trapping, nanophotonics, and optical communications. Here, we investigate the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference of VMs providing a full spatial characterization of the output state. We find that, by carefully selecting the input VMs, it is possible to simultaneously observe all four polarization Bell states and their superpositions in the spatially varying polarization pattern of the two photons. These results represent a significant step in advancing our understanding of HOM interference within structured photons, offering promising avenues for high-dimensional quantum information processing and, in particular, high-dimensional quantum communication, quantum sensing, and advanced photonic technologies reliant on tailored quantum states of light.

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Phys. Rev. A 112, 012215– Published 17 July, 2025
  • Received 21 December 2024
  • Accepted 16 June 2025
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