Geometric Phase of Three-Level Systems in Interferometry

Barry C. Sanders; Hubert de Guise; Stephen D. Bartlett; Weiping Zhang

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.369

Geometric Phase of Three-Level Systems in Interferometry

Barry C. Sanders, Hubert de Guise, Stephen D. Bartlett, and Weiping Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 369 – Published 15 January 2001

Abstract

We present the first scheme for producing and measuring an Abelian geometric phase shift in a three-level system where states are invariant under a non-Abelian group. In contrast to existing experiments and proposals for experiments, based on U(1)-invariant states, our scheme geodesically evolves U(2)-invariant states in a four-dimensional SU(3)/U(2) space and is physically realized via a three-channel optical interferometer.

Received 11 April 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.369

Authors & Affiliations

Barry C. Sanders¹, Hubert de Guise^1,2, Stephen D. Bartlett¹, and Weiping Zhang¹

¹Department of Physics, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia
²Centre de Recherche Mathématique, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128-A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada