Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Molecular Physics

Berry's phase in magnetic resonance

Dieter Suter, Gerard C. Chingas, Robert A. Harris, Alexander Pines

Published Aug 20, 1987• 140 citations
Publisher

Abstract

According to Berry, quantum states of a hamiltonian which varies adiabatically through a circuit C in parameter space may acquire geometrical phase factors exp (iγ(C)) in addition to the normal dynamical phase factors exp ((-i/ħ) ∝ E(t) dt). We present N.M.R. experiments in the rotating frame which bear out these predictions for simple conical circuits, and point out that they are related to familiar behaviour based on the classical Bloch equations and on Haeberlen-Waugh coherent averaging theory. Extensions to coupled spins and electric quadrupolar effects are discussed.

DOI
10.1080/00268978700101831

Related papers

Quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic changes

Michael Berry

Abstract A quantal system in an eigenstate, slowly transported round a circuit C by varying parameters R in its Hamiltonian Ĥ(R), will acquire a geometrical phase factor exp{iγ(C)} in addition to the familiar dynamical phase factor. An explicit general formula for γ(C) is derived in terms of the spectrum and eigenstates of Ĥ(R) over a surface spanning C. If C lies near a degeneracy of Ĥ, γ(C) takes a simple form which includes as a special case the sign change of eigenfunctions of real symmetric matrices round a degeneracy. As an illustration γ(C) is calculated for spinning particles in slowly-changing magnetic fields; although the sign reversal of spinors on rotation is a special case, the effect is predicted to occur for bosons as well as fermions, and a method for observing it is proposed. It is shown that the Aharonov-Bohm effect can be interpreted as a geometrical phase factor.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences•Mar 8, 1984•9,250 citations

The Pancharatnam-Berry Phase: Theoretical and Experimental Aspects

Francisco De

In 1984 Berry addressed a quantum system undergoing a unitary and cyclic evolution under the action of a time-dependent Hamiltonian (M. V. Berry, 1984). The process was supposed to be adiabatic, meaning that the time scale of the system’s evolution was much shorter than the time scale of the changing Hamiltonian. Until Berry’s study, it was assumed that for a cyclic Hamiltonian the quantum state would acquire only so-called dynamical phases, deprived of physical meaning. Such phases could be eliminated by redefining the quantum state through a “gauge” transformation of the form |ψ〉 → eiα |ψ〉. However, Berry discovered that besides the dynamical, there was an additional phase that could not be “gauged away” and whose origin was geometric or topological. It depended on the path that |ψ〉 describes in the parameter space spanned by those parameters to which the Hamiltonian owed its time dependence. Berry’s discovery was the starting point for a great amount of investigations that brought to light topological aspects of both quantum and classical systems. Berry’s phase was soon recognized as a special case of more general phases that showed up when dealing with topological aspects of different systems. For example, the Aharonov-Bohm phase could be understood as a geometric phase. The rotation angle acquired by a parallel-transported vector after completing a closed loop in a gravitationally curved space-time region, is also a geometric, Berry-like phase. Another example is the precession of the plane of oscillation of a Foucault pendulum. Berry’s original formulation was directly applicable to the case of a spin-1/2 system evolving under the action of a slowly varying magnetic field that undergoes cyclic changes. A spin-1/2 system is a special case of a two-level system. Another instances are two-level atoms and polarized light, so that also in these cases we should expect to find geometric phases. In fact, the first experimental test of Berry’s phase was done using polarized, classical light (A. Tomita, 1986). Pancharatnam (S. Pancharatnam, 1956) anticipated Berry’s phase when he proposed, back in 1956, how to decide whether two polarization states are “in phase”. Pancharatnam’s prescription is an operational one, based upon observing whether the intensity of the interferogram formed by two polarized beams has maximal intensity. In that case, the two polarized beams are said to be “in phase”. Such a definition is analogous to the definition of distant parallelism in differential geometry. Polarized states can be subjected to different transformations which could be cyclic or not, adiabatic or not, unitary or not. The Pancharatnam-Berry Phase: Theoretical and Experimental Aspects

InTech eBooks•Feb 24, 2012•16 citations

Dynamical quantum Hall effect in the parameter space

Vladimir Gritsev, Anatoli Polkovnikov

Geometric phases in quantum mechanics play an extraordinary role in broadening our understanding of fundamental significance of geometry in nature. One of the best known examples is the Berry phase [M.V. Berry (1984), Proc. Royal. Soc. London A, 392:45], which naturally emerges in quantum adiabatic evolution. So far the applicability and measurements of the Berry phase were mostly limited to systems of weakly interacting quasi-particles, where interference experiments are feasible. Here we show how one can go beyond this limitation and observe the Berry curvature, and hence the Berry phase, in generic systems as a nonadiabatic response of physical observables to the rate of change of an external parameter. These results can be interpreted as a dynamical quantum Hall effect in a parameter space. The conventional quantum Hall effect is a particular example of the general relation if one views the electric field as a rate of change of the vector potential. We illustrate our findings by analyzing the response of interacting spin chains to a rotating magnetic field. We observe the quantization of this response, which we term the rotational quantum Hall effect.

arXiv:1109.6024•Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences•Apr 9, 2012•98 citations

Dynamic origin of non-Abelian Berry’s-phase effects in a simple atomic system

Martin Ligare

The full effect of adiabatically varying Hamiltonians on systems prepared in eigenstates of the stationary Hamiltonian often includes geometric Berry's phases. For degenerate systems these effects may result in transitions between distinct degenerate eigenstates that can be described in terms of a non-Abelian gauge potential. I demonstrate the explicit dynamic origin of such transitions between degenerate angular-momentum sublevels in an atom that is subject to collinear electric and magnetic fields that rotate adiabatically. The origin of the effects becomes clear when eigenstates of the total Hamiltonian, which includes the rotating fields, are calculated. The total Hamiltonian removes the degeneracy, and the eigenstates are in some cases linear combinations of the angular-momentum sublevels. Thus a system prepared in a specific sublevel may not remain in that sublevel, and the transition probability is exactly that given by an analysis of the geometric phase.

Physical Review A•Nov 1, 1990•2 citations

Berry's phase and orbital angular momentum

Paolo Martelli, Annalaura Fasiello, Mario Martinelli

In 1984 Berry showed that a quantum system evolving in a cyclic and adiabatic way acquires in addition to the dynamic phase also a phase which of geometric nature, depending on the path on the parameter space [1]. This geometric phase, also named Berry's phase, can be generalized to non-adiabatic situations [2] and presents some classical analogues, as in the case of the motion of a Foucault pendulum [3].

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2017•2 citations

Berry's Topological Phase in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory

I. J. R. Aitchison

Berry's work on quantum systems described by adiabatically varying Hamiltonians is introduced. Some simple systems exhibiting the "Berry phase" phenomenon are discussed, including: a spin-½ particle in a slowly varying magnetic field, linearly polarised light propagating down a helically wound optical fibre, and dynamic Jahn-Teller E ⊗ systems. The way in which the Berry phase concept illuminates the origin of anomalies in chiral gauge field theories, and the fermionic behaviour of solitons in certain scalar field theories (skyrmions), is also indicated.

Physica Scripta•Jan 1, 1988•42 citations
According to Berry, quantum states of a hamiltonian which varies adiabatically through a circuit C in parameter space may acquire geometrical phase factors exp (iγ(C)) in addition to the normal dynamical phase factors exp ((-i/ħ) ∝ E(t) dt). We present N.M.R. experiments in the rotating frame which bear out these predictions for simple conical circuits, and point out that they are related to familiar behaviour based on the classical Bloch equations and on Haeberlen-Waugh coherent averaging theory. Extensions to coupled spins and electric quadrupolar effects are discussed.
Abstract A quantal system in an eigenstate, slowly transported round a circuit C by varying parameters R in its Hamiltonian Ĥ(R), will acquire a geometrical phase factor exp{iγ(C)} in addition to the familiar dynamical phase factor. An explicit general formula for γ(C) is derived in terms of the spectrum and eigenstates of Ĥ(R) over a surface spanning C. If C lies near a degeneracy of Ĥ, γ(C) takes a simple form which includes as a special case the sign change of eigenfunctions of real symmetric matrices round a degeneracy. As an illustration γ(C) is calculated for spinning particles in slowly-changing magnetic fields; although the sign reversal of spinors on rotation is a special case, the effect is predicted to occur for bosons as well as fermions, and a method for observing it is proposed. It is shown that the Aharonov-Bohm effect can be interpreted as a geometrical phase factor.
In 1984 Berry addressed a quantum system undergoing a unitary and cyclic evolution under the action of a time-dependent Hamiltonian (M. V. Berry, 1984). The process was supposed to be adiabatic, meaning that the time scale of the system’s evolution was much shorter than the time scale of the changing Hamiltonian. Until Berry’s study, it was assumed that for a cyclic Hamiltonian the quantum state would acquire only so-called dynamical phases, deprived of physical meaning. Such phases could be eliminated by redefining the quantum state through a “gauge” transformation of the form |ψ〉 → eiα |ψ〉. However, Berry discovered that besides the dynamical, there was an additional phase that could not be “gauged away” and whose origin was geometric or topological. It depended on the path that |ψ〉 describes in the parameter space spanned by those parameters to which the Hamiltonian owed its time dependence. Berry’s discovery was the starting point for a great amount of investigations that brought to light topological aspects of both quantum and classical systems. Berry’s phase was soon recognized as a special case of more general phases that showed up when dealing with topological aspects of different systems. For example, the Aharonov-Bohm phase could be understood as a geometric phase. The rotation angle acquired by a parallel-transported vector after completing a closed loop in a gravitationally curved space-time region, is also a geometric, Berry-like phase. Another example is the precession of the plane of oscillation of a Foucault pendulum. Berry’s original formulation was directly applicable to the case of a spin-1/2 system evolving under the action of a slowly varying magnetic field that undergoes cyclic changes. A spin-1/2 system is a special case of a two-level system. Another instances are two-level atoms and polarized light, so that also in these cases we should expect to find geometric phases. In fact, the first experimental test of Berry’s phase was done using polarized, classical light (A. Tomita, 1986). Pancharatnam (S. Pancharatnam, 1956) anticipated Berry’s phase when he proposed, back in 1956, how to decide whether two polarization states are “in phase”. Pancharatnam’s prescription is an operational one, based upon observing whether the intensity of the interferogram formed by two polarized beams has maximal intensity. In that case, the two polarized beams are said to be “in phase”. Such a definition is analogous to the definition of distant parallelism in differential geometry. Polarized states can be subjected to different transformations which could be cyclic or not, adiabatic or not, unitary or not. The Pancharatnam-Berry Phase: Theoretical and Experimental Aspects
Geometric phases in quantum mechanics play an extraordinary role in broadening our understanding of fundamental significance of geometry in nature. One of the best known examples is the Berry phase [M.V. Berry (1984), Proc. Royal. Soc. London A, 392:45], which naturally emerges in quantum adiabatic evolution. So far the applicability and measurements of the Berry phase were mostly limited to systems of weakly interacting quasi-particles, where interference experiments are feasible. Here we show how one can go beyond this limitation and observe the Berry curvature, and hence the Berry phase, in generic systems as a nonadiabatic response of physical observables to the rate of change of an external parameter. These results can be interpreted as a dynamical quantum Hall effect in a parameter space. The conventional quantum Hall effect is a particular example of the general relation if one views the electric field as a rate of change of the vector potential. We illustrate our findings by analyzing the response of interacting spin chains to a rotating magnetic field. We observe the quantization of this response, which we term the rotational quantum Hall effect.
The full effect of adiabatically varying Hamiltonians on systems prepared in eigenstates of the stationary Hamiltonian often includes geometric Berry's phases. For degenerate systems these effects may result in transitions between distinct degenerate eigenstates that can be described in terms of a non-Abelian gauge potential. I demonstrate the explicit dynamic origin of such transitions between degenerate angular-momentum sublevels in an atom that is subject to collinear electric and magnetic fields that rotate adiabatically. The origin of the effects becomes clear when eigenstates of the total Hamiltonian, which includes the rotating fields, are calculated. The total Hamiltonian removes the degeneracy, and the eigenstates are in some cases linear combinations of the angular-momentum sublevels. Thus a system prepared in a specific sublevel may not remain in that sublevel, and the transition probability is exactly that given by an analysis of the geometric phase.
Berry's work on quantum systems described by adiabatically varying Hamiltonians is introduced. Some simple systems exhibiting the "Berry phase" phenomenon are discussed, including: a spin-½ particle in a slowly varying magnetic field, linearly polarised light propagating down a helically wound optical fibre, and dynamic Jahn-Teller E ⊗ systems. The way in which the Berry phase concept illuminates the origin of anomalies in chiral gauge field theories, and the fermionic behaviour of solitons in certain scalar field theories (skyrmions), is also indicated.