Berry's Phase in the Coherent Excitation of Atoms |
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| Authors: | SM Barnett D Ellinas MA Dupertuis |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Research Institute for Theoretical Physics , Siltavuorenpenger 20C, SF-00170, Helsinki 17, Finland;2. Theoretical Physics Division , AERE Harwell , Oxfordshire, OX11 0RA, England;3. Research Institute for Theoretical Physics , Siltavuorenpenger 20C, SF-00170, Helsinki 17, Finland;4. Laboratoire d'optoélectronique, Institut de physique appliquée, EPFL—Département de physique , PHB-Ecubiens, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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