Quantum communication with structured photons

Abstract There has been rising interest in structured photons as physical realizations of high-dimensional quantum states and their impact on quantum communication. Enlarged Hilbert spaces offer several advantages like higher information capacity, better noise tolerance and the ability to benefit from advanced quantum communication protocols. We describe several of these benefits demonstrated for or inspired by structured photons and discuss the technological progress to generate, detect and modulate high-dimensional quantum information. We further outline the required components for a global quantum network using structured photons including various entanglement sources, quantum channels, repeaters, interfaces, and routers. Thus, we give an introduction and overview over the broad field of quantum communications with structured photons.