Journal of Modern Optics

Berry's Phase in the Coherent Excitation of Atoms

Stephen Mark Barnett, Demosthenes Ellinas, M.‐A. Dupertuis

Published Mar 1, 1988• 13 citations

Abstract

The adiabatic variation of a Hamiltonian can cause the wavefunction, governed by the Hamiltonian, to acquire an unexpected phase. The existence of this phase (Berry's phase) is an additional element in the well-known quantum adiabatic theorem. Berry's phase is observable in the interference between two identically prepared systems only one of which is adiabatically varied. We show that a single quantum system prepared in a superposition of the eigenstates of its Hamiltonian leads to observable Berry phase effects at all times. We examine this principle within the context of two-level optical resonance.

DOI: 10.1080/09500348814550581

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