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

焦博士提出了一个创新的实验来测试量子 量子波动方程中相位因子的力学性质， 最近，布里斯托大学的M.V.Berry预测了这种生物的存在。 这 相位因子是由量子系统在绝热时获得的。 在参数空间中围绕闭合电路的传输，是一个 电路的拓扑性质。焦博士的合作者最近 进行了光学演示的贝里阶段， 利用螺旋绕线中偏振旋转的经典极限 光纤 这些实验的兴奋之处在于 最近发表在《物理评论快报》上， 1986年9月18日《自然》杂志上的一篇广泛的新闻文章。 有 目前相当大的争议，观察到的相移是 纯粹的古典主义相的量子性质的检验 通过在单光子极限下提出的光纤干涉测量法 可以在经典和量子之间建立一种新的对应关系 力学光子作为具有自旋的粒子， 拓扑非平凡的历史依赖性。焦穴 列出了贝里相产生的几个潜在的新应用， 例如在陀螺仪中，这种新型光学活动可以 用于检测相对于固定惯性系的旋转， 空间

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.