Published January 23, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

Experimental Demonstration of the Stability of Berry's Phase for a Spin-1/2 Particle

  • 1. Institut Laue Langevin, Boite Postale 156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)
  • 2. Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zuerich (Switzerland)
  • 3. Atominstitut der Oesterreichischen Universitaeten, Stadionallee 2, A-1020 Vienna (Austria)
  • 4. Physikalisches Institut, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

Description

The geometric phase has been proposed as a candidate for noise resilient coherent manipulation of fragile quantum systems. Since it is determined only by the path of the quantum state, the presence of noise fluctuations affects the geometric phase in a different way than the dynamical phase. We have experimentally tested the robustness of Berry's geometric phase for spin-1/2 particles in a cyclically varying magnetic field. Using trapped polarized ultracold neutrons, it is demonstrated that the geometric phase contributions to dephasing due to adiabatic field fluctuations vanish for long evolution times

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
102
Journal Issue
3
Journal Page Range
p. 030404-030404.4
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
40054330
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
EVOLUTION; FLUCTUATIONS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; NOISE; SPIN; STABILITY; TRAPPING; ULTRACOLD NEUTRONS
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; BARYONS; COLD NEUTRONS; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; FERMIONS; HADRONS; NEUTRONS; NUCLEONS; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; VARIATIONS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2009 The American Physical Society