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Optics Letters

Geometric phase in a flat space for electromagnetic scalar waves

Alfredo Luis

Published Jul 25, 2006• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show the existence of a fundamental geometric phase for classical electromagnetic fields arising after cyclic paths in a plane instead of a sphere. This phase is dispersive, is not related to polarization, distinguishes geometrical from wave optics, and can be easily measured in an interferometric arrangement.
DOI
10.1364/ol.31.002471

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The wave function of a quantum system may acquire an additional phase factor (the geometric phase), when its parameters undergo a cyclic change. An optical manifestation of the geometric phase is the change in the phase of a light wave produced when its state of polarization is taken around a circuit on the Poincare sphere. This phase change can be verified by interferometric measurements. We describe an interferometer in which the two beams traverse the same path in opposite directions, so that their optical paths are always equal, and the phase difference between them is varied by operating on the geometric phase. Measurements made with this interferometer, at a light level at which the probability of more than one photon being present simultaneously in the interferometer was negligibly small, confirmed that the interference effects observed due to the geometric phase persist down to the single photon level.
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