Johannesburg: TECHz – News Desk
Quantum optics research has established that photons can be deliberately structured in space, time, and spectrum to generate high-dimensional quantum states. This work has been carried out by teams at Wits University in South Africa, led by Distinguished Professor Andrew Forbes, and by collaborators at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain. The principle builds on the fact that photons can carry orbital angular momentum, allowing them to encode information in many dimensions beyond simple polarization.
Professor Andrew Forbes has explained in an interview: “We work across three main pillars: classical light, where we shape bright laser beams for specific applications; quantum light, where we work with single photons and entangled particles; and laser development, where we build lasers tailored to our needs.”
He has further emphasized: “Structured light allows us to encode information in many dimensions, opening new possibilities for quantum communication and imaging.”
Peer-reviewed studies published in journals such as Nature Photonics and Physical Review Letters confirm that structured light can expand the Hilbert space available for quantum information. These findings demonstrate that photons can be engineered to maintain multidimensional entanglement even under atmospheric turbulence, enabling quantum communication channels with higher data capacity and stronger resilience against noise. This research marks a significant step toward scalable quantum networks and the eventual realization of a quantum internet.
