Exploiting the Poincaré–Bloch symmetry to design high-fidelity broadband composite linear retarders

Abstract

States can be mapped between the Poincar{é} space (representing photon polarizations) and the Bloch space (representing states of a quantum spin- {#}{#}IMG{#}{#} [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/9/2/024/nj232464ieqn1.gif] {{}$\$frac{{}1{}}{{}2{}}{}} particle). Using this mapping and analogous mappings for unitary operators, techniques and formalisms developed in one space can be applied in the other. As an example, error-correction strategies originally developed in the context of pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance experiments are applied to linear optics to propose the design of a new class of composite high-fidelity broadband linear retarder.