Manifestations of Berry's Topological Phase for the Photon

Abstract

Recently, Berry recognized in quantum mechanics a topological phase factor arising from the adiabatic transport of a system around a closed circuit, which is essentially the Aharonov-Bohm effect in parameter space. Here we consider manifestations of this phase factor for a photon in a state of adiabatically invariant helicity. An interferometer is suggested to see this phase. Also, an effective optical activity for a helical optical fiber is predicted. These effects emerge on a classical level as topological features of Maxwell's theory.