Geometric phases in singlemode fiber lightguides and fiber ring interferometers

Abstract

We consider various geometric phases (GPs) in singlemode fiber lightguides (SMFs) and in fiber ring interferometers (FRIs): the Pancharatnam phase stemming from the cyclic evolution of the polarization state of radiation (RP state) in SMF, the Rytov–Vladimirskii phase (RV phase) stemming from the Rytov effect (specifically, rotation of the polarization plane due to noncoplanar winding of SMFs), as well as the nonreciprocal phase difference of counterpropagating waves (NPDCW) and nonreciprocal geometric phase of counterpropagating waves (NGPCW), which are caused by polarization nonreciprocity (PN) in FRIs. We show that in the general case, the Pancharatnam phase for an arbitrary RP state is inconsistent with the real phase change of light fluctuations in mediathat possess not only circular but also linear birefringence. We show that the RV phase, having a geometric origin, can in principle be considered as a dynamic phase (DP). We also show that the NGPCW can be considered as an effect of the evolution of the RP state mapped on the Poincaré sphere in Ginzburg's orthogonal screw polarization modes (GSPMs) of SMFs in the FRI contour. We analyze a number of experiments in which geometric phases were detected in FRIs: changing the RV phase and Rytov's angle (RA) in response to change of the pitch of helicoidal winding of SMFs.