3342 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 31, No.

22 / November 15, 2006

Berry’s phase amplification by a ring resonator

Ilya Golub
iUreka, 31 Castleton, Ottawa, Ontario K2G 5P2, Canada
Received August 1, 2006; revised August 22, 2006; accepted August 29, 2006;
posted August 31, 2006 (Doc. ID 73666); published October 26, 2006
It is shown that, similar to resonant enhancement of linear phase, birefringent phase, and chirality/optical
activity by a ring resonator (RR), Berry’s phase, or the geometrical phase, can be amplified by repeatedly
passing light through a Berry’s phase-generating element placed in a RR. Small-signal amplification of Ber-
ry’s phase is equal to the resonator finesse F. This amplification can be exploited when Berry’s phase is used
for performing quantum computation or in fiber-optic and other sensors. © 2006 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 350.1370, 260.3160, 230.5750, 120.5050, 120.3180, 060.2370.

The ring resonator (RR), which is mathematically with a unit modulus. The phase of the output beam
equivalent to a Gires–Tournois interferometer, is a ␸out is given by1

phase-only filter with very useful properties: due to
an increased effective path length, in the vicinity of
its resonances a RR enhances circulating intensity,
phase sensitivity,1 nonlinear phase,2 chirality/optical
activity,3,4 and birefringence.5 I have recently shown
that coupled RRs exhibit distributed exponential en-
hancement of phase sensitivity and intensity.6 In the
present work it is shown that a RR can amplify Ber-
ry’s, or geometrical, phase.7 The main idea of this
Letter is straightforward: instead of trying to build
up Berry’s phase by making light pass consecutively
through many elements (such as helically wound fi-
ber stretches/turns), in our scheme the wave repeti-
tively passes through a Berry’s phase-generating ele-
ment placed in a RR, resulting in an output
geometric progression whose sum has a phase exhib-
iting accumulation of a single-pass phase. This is
simply a manifestation of the mathematical fact that
in a linear system the phase factors of a wave, be
they linear, birefringent, or Berry’s phase, are addi-
tive when the wave passes through many correspond-
ing phase-changing elements (PCEs). Berry’s phase
was suggested as a potential means for performing
quantum computation8,9 and for use in fiber-optic
sensors.10,11 These applications will require control
and transformation of aspects of Berry’s phase such
as its amplification. A scheme for this is proposed in
the present work.
First, we recall the properties of a RR. Figure 1
shows the free-space optics scheme for phase ampli-
fication by a RR. The impinging beam is partially re-
flected with amplitude reflection coefficient r, while
the coupled part of the beam, after passing the PCE,
acquires a phase dependence given by exp共i␸兲. Here
␸ = 共2␲ / ␭兲nL + ⌬␸ is the sum of the linear phase of a
wave propagating in the RR of length L and the PCE-
induced phase change ⌬␸ that we wish to magnify.
The normalized output beam is given by a sum
冉 冊
1+r ␸
␸out = 2 tan−1 tan . 共2兲
1−r 2
At the resonances of the empty RR, 共2␲ / ␭兲nL = m2␲
and ␸ = ⌬␸. The amplification factor ␸out / ⌬␸ is a non-
linear function, and it ranges from 共1 + r兲 / 共1 − r兲
(which is approximately the finesse F of the RR, F
⬇ 共␲ / 2兲关共1 + r兲 / 共1 − r兲兴 for small ⌬␸ to 1 for ⌬␸ = ␲.
Next we consider amplification of Berry’s phase.
This phase, also termed the geometrical phase or the
Pancharatnam–Berry phase, is a topological phase
arising from a transport of a system around a closed
path. One of its manifestations in optics is a change
of the plane of polarization of light by an amount
equal to a solid angle subtended by a closed path
swept by a vector on the momentum sphere10–14 as a
result of adiabatic rotation of the polarization of light
traveling along a three-dimensional path.
We can expect Berry’s phase to be resonantly am-
plified by a RR, similarly to amplification of other
phases, which, as mentioned above, is due to accumu-
lation of any phase factor of a wave periodically tra-
versing a corresponding PCE. For example, it is well
known that light traversing a single turn of helically
wound fiber acquires Berry’s phase (equal to the solid
angle in the momentum space and to the light-
polarization’s rotation angle) ␥ = 2␲共1 − p / s兲, where p
is the pitch of the helix and s is the length of the he-

Eout = − r + 共1 − r2兲共exp i␸ + r exp 2i␸ + . . . 兲

− r + e i␸
= = exp i␸out . 共1兲
1 − rei␸
Fig. 1. Configuration of a ring resonator with a phase-
changing element for amplification of the phase transferred
Thus a RR has a phase-sensitive transfer function to the beam by the PCE.

0146-9592/06/223342-3/$15.00 © 2006 Optical Society of America


Fig. 2. (a) Accumulation of Berry’s phase by multiple he-
lically wound fiber stretches. (b) Amplification of Berry’s
phase by placing a fiber helix in a RR.
lix, and this phase (and the polarization rotation
angle) is linearly proportional to the number of turns
in the helix.10–14 A beam passing through N stacked
fiber helices acquires a dependence E polarization rotation. Physically, this result is
= E0exp共i兺n␸Bn兲, where n ranges from 1 to N [Fig.
2(a)]. Consequently, accumulation of this phase prop-
erty by multiple passes through a Berry’s phase-
generating element placed in a RR or a Gires–
Tournois interferometer will result in amplification of
this phase [Fig. 2(b)].
Interference of two counterpropagating beams con-
taining equal and opposite sign Berry’s phase gener-
ated by a fiber helix placed in a Sagnac loop was ob-
served in Refs. 13 and 14. Similarly, Tomita and
Chiao12 showed that interference between left and
right circularly polarized modes propagating simul-
taneously along a helical turn of a fiber results in ro-
tation of polarization of light as predicted by Berry.
Another two-beam interference, using a three-
dimensional Mach–Zehnder interferometer, showed
the fringe shift to be according to Berry’s
prediction.15 In the present work multiple-beam in-
terference is considered: when a fiber helix generat-
ing a Berry’s phase ␸B is placed in a RR [Fig. 2(b)],
multiple passes through the RR will result in an out-
put geometrical progression similar to Eq. (1), with
an additional phase ␸B, namely,
Eout = − r + 共1 − r2兲共exp i␸B exp i␸
+ r exp 2i␸B exp 2i␸ + . . . 兲
− r + e i␸Be i␸
= = exp i␸Bout exp i␸out .
1 − rei␸Bei␸
Equation (3) holds for polarization eigenfunctions
specific for the element placed in the ring. For ex-
ample, the eigenfunction can be left or right circu-
larly polarized light for a fiber helix or linear polar-
ized light for a Pancharatnam phase shifter, which is
a half-wave plate placed between two quarter-wave
plates. After the RR, multiple beams of each eigenpo-
larization interfere separately, and the difference be-
tween the phases of the two resulting orthogonal
states of polarization gives the change in Berry’s
phase. In experiments, care should be taken to mini-
mize stress-induced or other residual birefringence to
avoid transformation between different states of po-
larization.
November 15, 2006 / Vol. 31, No. 22 / OPTICS LETTERS 3343
At RR resonances, where ␸ = m2␲, the output wave
will exhibit a phase ␸Bout described by an equation
similar to Eq. (2), e.g.,
␸Bout = 2 tan−1 冉 1+r
1−r
tan
␸B
2
冊 ,
with an amplification factor 共1 + r兲 / 共1 − r兲 for a small
single-pass Berry’s phase ␸B. Figure 3 depicts Berry’s
phase amplification for a RR with r = 0.9. In the sum
displayed in Eq. (3) each consequent term (except the
first dc term), while weighted in amplitude by a fac-
tor r, is due to a light beam that makes exactly the
same, additional to the preceding term, closed path
on a momentum sphere with the same additionally
acquired Berry’s phase. The discussed enhancement
by a RR of Berry’s phase generated by a fiber helix is
associated with amplification of the helix-produced
equivalent to the magnification of optical activity/
chirality of an active element placed in a RR, as con-
sidered and observed in Refs. 3 and 4. (Fiber-helix-
generated polarization rotation associated with
Berry’s phase was interpreted by many authors as
geometrical/topological optical activity, e.g., in Refs.
10, 12, and 16, that is achromatic and independent of
the fiber properties and polarization.10,14,16,17)
The path along the RR outside of the helix does not
contribute to the Berry’s phase because this part of
the fiber lies on a plane. The geometrical phase/
Berry’s phase depends on a sequence of transforma-
tions rather than on optical path length or wave-
length; thus it is robust and insensitive to
mechanical disturbances and relatively easy to mea-
sure. Berry’s phase was observed by use of a Sagnac
interferometer13,14,16,17; hence, its enhancement can
be observed by placing a RR in a Sagnac loop as was
done in a scheme to observe birefringent phase
magnification.5
Note that, as in the example of a fiber helix, Berry’s
phase can be generated without any amplitude/mode
transformation and thus can be readily obtained in
waveguides/fibers, avoiding higher-order mode
losses. Nevertheless, losses can be taken into account
by introducing attenuation-limited transmission ␣
into the RR cavity, resulting in a modified Eq. (3):
共3兲
Fig. 3. Berry’s phase (dashed curve) and the amplification
factor (solid curve) at the output of an r = 0.9 RR as a func-
tion of the single-pass Berry’s phase.
3344 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 31, No. 22 / November 15, 2006

− r + ␣ e i␸Be i␸ 5. I. Golub and E. Simova, Opt. Lett. 30, 87 (2005).

Eout = . 共4兲 6. I. Golub, Opt. Lett. 31, 507 (2006).
1 − ␣ e i␸Be i␸ 7. M. V. Berry, Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 392, 45 (1984).
8. J. A. Jones, V. Vedral, A. Ekert, and G. Castagnoli,
As in the case of linear/nonlinear phase and intensity Nature 403, 869 (2000).
enhancement, these losses limit the maximal achiev- 9. L.-M. Duan, J. I. Cirac, and P. Zoller, Science 292, 1695
able amplification.2,6 (2001).
In conclusion, it has been shown that a ring reso- 10. F. Wassmann and A. Ankiewicz, Appl. Opt. 37, 3902
nator can resonantly amplify Berry’s phase. This fea- (1998).
ture may find applications in quantum information 11. M. Kuzyk, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19, 2346 (2002).
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(1986).
The author’s e-mail address is 13. E. M. Frins and W. Dultz, Opt. Commun. 136, 354
ilya.golub@rogers.com (1997).
14. P. Senthilkumaran, G. Thursby, and B. Culshaw, Opt.
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