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Pancharatnam-Berry phase and Hall effect of

Vector Light Beams

Conference Paper · October 2012

DOI: 10.1364/FIO.2012.FTu1F.5

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Giovanni Milione Martin Lavery

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 FTu1F.5.pdf FiO/LS Technical Digest © OSA 2012

Pancharatnam-Berry phase and Hall effect of

Vector Light Beams
Giovanni Milione1, Martin P. J. Laverly2, Miles J. Padgett2 and Robert. R. Alfano1
1
Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, Physics Department, City College of New York of the City University of New York
2
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

giomilione@gmail.com

Abstract: We experimentally demonstrate a new Pancharatnam-Berry phase and Hall effect of

light that arise upon exploiting or breaking the rotational symmetry of a vector light beam.
OCIS codes: (050.4865) Optical Vortices; (260.5430) Polarization

Introduction
Symmetry plays a significant role in Physics. In the field of singular optics, concerning the angular
momentum of light, it is rotational symmetry that underlies the ability of a light beam to carry a spin angular
momentum of σ  per photon (σ = ±1) associated with right and left circular polarization, and an orbital angular
momentum of  per photon ( = 0, ±1, ±2,...) associated with a helical wave front that is described by the azimuthal
phase factor exp(iϕ ) called an optical vortex. In this presentation, the experimental demonstration of two new
phenomena associated with the rotational symmetry of a vector light beam, such as radial or azimuthal polarization,
will be discussed. Exploiting or breaking the rotational symmetry of a vector light beam leads to a new
Pancharatnam-Berry phase and Hall effect of light, respectively.

Figure 1: (a) Instantaneous field distribution, “snapshot in time” of a circular polarized optical vortex (b) Intensity of circular polarized optical
vortex (c) Rotating interferogram of a circular polarized optical vortex. The rotation of the ‘lobes’ is directly proportional to the higher-order
Pancharatnam-Berry phase and the light beam’s total angular momentum.

Exploiting Rotational Symmetry

Exploiting the rotational symmetry of a vector light beam, such as in making it rotate, causes the total
angular momentum eigenstates of the light beam, circular polarized optical vortices, to acquire a phase directly
proportional to their total angular momentum J = ( + σ ) . Such a rotation can be described as a cyclic path on a
Poincare sphere for vector light beams, the higher order Poincare sphere [1]. Using the higher order Poincare sphere
it is shown this phase is a new manifestation of the Pancahratnam–Berry (geometric) phase referred to as the higher
order Pancharatnam-Berry phase [2]. The higher-order Pancharatnam Berry phase is measured using a novel
interference experiment and confirmed to be proportional to the light beam’s total angular momentum and its
rotational symmetry (Fig. 1)
 FTu1F.5.pdf FiO/LS Technical Digest © OSA 2012

Figure 2: (a) Polarization and intensity of vector light beams (b) Broken symmetry of vector light beam (c) Intensity at the focal plane of a lens
(d) S3 Stokes parameter at the focal plane. The separation of the two orthogonally polarized spots depends on the period and handedness of the
vector light beam’s polarization gradient.

Breaking Rotational Symmetry

Breaking the rotational symmetry of a vector light beam, such as in the deformation of its spatial structure ,
leads to a new Hall effect of light – the spatial separation of a light beam into its right and left circular polarization
components. Unlike previously reported Hall effects of light [3], the spatial separation of right and left circular
polarization reported here is not dependent on the light beam’s initial spin, as in the spin-Hall effect of light, but
rather the symmetry of its initial vector state of polarization. This new Hall effect of light is measured by breaking
the symmetry of a vector light beam through a polar to Cartesian transformation [4]. Upon focusing the light beam is
shown to split into two spatially separated spots of right and left circular polarization whose separation depends
directly on the polarization gradient of the vector light beam (Fig. 2)

References
[1] Giovanni Milione, H. I. Sztul, D. A. Nolan, and R. R. Alfano, “Higher-order Poincare sphere, Stokes parameters, and the angular momentum
of light,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 053601 (2011).

[2] Giovanni Milione, S. Evans, D. A. Nolan, and R. R. Alfano, “Higher-order Pancharatnam-Berry phase and the angular momentum of light,”
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 190401 (2012).
[3] M. Onoda, S. Murakami, and N. Nagaosa, “Hall effect of light,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 083901 (2004)

[4] G. C. G. Berkhout, M. P. J. Laverly, J. Courtial, M. W. Beijersbergen, and M. J. Padgett, “Efficient Sorting of Orbital Angular Momentum
States of Light,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 153601 (2010)

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