Expedited Award for Novel Research: Berry's Phase of PhotonsIn Optical Fibers: Quantal Aspects

焦立中博士提出了一个创新的实验来测试量子波动方程中相因子的量子力学性质，该相因子的存在是由布里斯托尔大学的M.V.Berry最近预测的。该相因子是由量子系统在参数空间中通过闭合电路的绝热传输获得的，是电路的一种拓扑性质。焦立中博士和合作者最近利用螺旋缠绕的光纤中的偏振旋转，对经典极限下的Berry相进行了光学演示。这些实验的兴奋之处最近发表在《物理评论快报》上，并在1986年9月18日出版的《自然》杂志上发表了一篇广泛的新闻文章。目前存在着相当大的争议，即观测到的相移纯粹是经典的。通过提出的光纤干涉法在单光子极限下测试相位的量子性质，可以在经典力学和量子力学之间建立新的对应关系。光子作为具有自旋的粒子，可以获得其位相在拓扑上的非平凡的历史依赖性。焦立中指出了Berry相产生的几个潜在的新应用，例如，在陀螺学中，这种新类型的光学活动可以被用来检测空间中相对于固定惯性系的旋转。

Dr. Chiao has proposed an innovative experiment to test the quantum mechanical nature of a phase factor in the quantum wave equation whose existence was recently predicted by M.V. Berry of Bristol U. This phase factor is acquired by a quantum system upon its adiabatic transport around a closed circuit in parameter space, & is a topological property of the circuit. Dr. Chiao & collaborators recently carried out an optical demonstration of the Berry phase in the classical limit using polarization rotation in a helically-wound optical fiber. The excitement of these experiments, which were recently published in Physical Review Letters, was captured in an extensive news article in the 9/18/86 issue of Nature. There is currently considerable controversy that the observed phase shifts are purely classical in nature. A test of the quantum nature of the phase through proposed fiber-optic interferometry in the singly photon limit could establish a novel correspondence between classical and quantum mechanics. The photon as a particle with spin could acquire a topologically nontrivial history dependence of its phase. Chiao points out several potential novel applications arising from the Berry phase, such as, in gyroscopy where this new type of optical activity could be exploited to detect rotations with respect to a fixed inertial frame in space.