Phase correlation arc and universal decay of entangled orbital angular momentum qubit states in atmospheric turbulence.

Abstract

In this study, we introduce the phase correlation arc of an orbital angular momentum (OAM) beam to investigate the evolution of OAM entanglement. We reveal that the entanglement decay of all OAM states of Laguerre-Gaussian modes in atmospheric turbulence is universal via both numerical predictions and experimental data. A similar evolution law is also theoretically confirmed to exist in Bessel-Gaussian modes. Finally, by using the phase correlation arc, the precise formula of the decay distance dependence on the OAM number is derived, and it exhibits excellent agreement with previous experimental conclusions.