Complete four-dimensional Bell state measurement using weak cross-Kerr nonlinearity

Abstract

In this paper, we present an efficient scheme for the complete analysis of the four-dimensional Bell state of the photon system in the path degree of freedom, resorting to the weak cross-Kerr nonlinearity and linear optics. In our scheme, the measurements on two probe coherent states are used for obtaining the bit information of high-dimensional entanglement, and the linear optical elements and single-photon detectors are used for obtaining the relative phase information of high-dimensional entanglement. With these two independent processes, the 16 orthogonal four-dimensional path Bell states can be completely distinguished from each other. This simple and realizable scheme may have useful applications in the quantum information technology based on high-dimensional entanglement.