Thomas rotation and polarized light: A non-abelian geometric phase in optics |
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Authors: | Joseph Samuel Supurna Sinha |
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Institution: | (1) Raman Research Institute, 560 080 Bangalore, India |
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Abstract: | We describe anon-abelian Berry phase in polarization optics, suggested by an analogy due to Nityananda between boosts in special relativity and the
effect of elliptic dichroism on polarized light. The analogy permits a simple optical realization of the non-abelian gauge
field describing Thomas rotation. We also show how Thomas rotation can be understood geometrically on the Poincaré sphere
in terms of the Pancharatnam phase. |
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Keywords: | Geometric phase polarized light Thomas rotation non-abelian phase |
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