• Accepted Paper

Reconfigurable circuit for mode-tunable topological quantum structured light

Pedro Ornelas, Tatjana Kleine, André G. de Oliveira, Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán, Andrew Forbes, and Isaac Nape

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 17 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w3dc-58pw

Abstract

Structured light in the quantum regime has garnered considerable attention due to the opportunities it offers when mixing light’s internal degrees of freedom, for high-dimensional and multi-dimensional quantum states of light. A popular example is to harness polarisation and spatial entangled photons with a shared topological invariant that is robust against numerous families of noisy quantum channels. Yet, producing such states with high purity and adaptability remains challenging. Here we introduce a compact, self-locking Mach–Zehnder interferometer that integrates digital spatial light modulators with static beam displacers to map spatial-mode entanglement from a parametric down-conversion source onto topological entanglement with high fidelity. The device also mimics the action of a reprogrammable controlled-unitary gate, digitally driven by the spatial light modulator with the desired target state preparation achieved through post-selection. This approach is an enabling platform and provides a practical route to generating reliable, high-purity quantum-structured light with topological features, both at the single-photon level and as entangled states, a direction of growing topical interest.

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