title: Spin-orbit coupling of light in asymmetric microcavities.
abstract: When spinning particles, such as electrons and photons, undergo spin-orbit coupling, they can acquire an extra phase in addition to the well-known dynamical phase. This extra phase is called the geometric phase (also known as the Berry phase), which plays an important role in a startling variety of physical contexts such as in photonics, condensed matter, high-energy and space physics. The geometric phase was originally discussed for a cyclically evolving physical system with an Abelian evolution, and was later generalized to non-cyclic and non-Abelian cases, which are the most interesting fundamental subjects in this area and indicate promising applications in various fields. Here, we enable optical spin-orbit coupling in asymmetric microcavities and experimentally observe a non-cyclic optical geometric phase acquired in a non-Abelian evolution. Our work is relevant to fundamental studies and implies promising applications by manipulating photons in on-chip quantum devices.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Fomin
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physik, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Weimarer Straße 25, D-98693 Ilmenau, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hentschel
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Straße 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Götte
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jorgensen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany.|Material Systems for Nanoelectronics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 70, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany.
authors.forename: O G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Schmidt