Geometric phases and hidden symmetries in simple resonators

Abstract

Geometric phases of real wave functions in nonintegrable quantum billiards are measured using microwave resonators. They appear as a sign change of the wave function after a cyclic excursion around a diabolic point in the space of shapes of the resonator. For a path encircling a pointlike triple degeneracy of an integrable system, an unexpected sign change for two out of the three wave functions is found, which must be attributed to a hidden symmetry, and not to a Berry phase.