Observation of a non-adiabatic geometric phase for elastic waves

Jérémie Boulanger (1) , Nicolas Le Bihan (1) , Stefan Catheline (2) , Vincent Rossetto (3)

1 GIPSA-CICS - GIPSA - Communication Information and Complex Systems
2 ISTerre - Institut des Sciences de la Terre
3 LPM2C - Laboratoire de physique et modélisation des milieux condensés

We report the experimental observation of a geometric phase for elastic waves in a waveguide with helical shape. The setup reproduces the experiment by Tomita and Chiao [A. Tomita, R.Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57 (1986) 937-940, 2471] that showed first evidence of a Berry phase, a geometric phase for adiabatic time evolution, in optics. Experimental evidence of a non-adiabatic geometric phase has been reported in quantum mechanics. We have performed an experiment to observe the polarization transport of classical elastic waves. In a waveguide, these waves are polarized and dispersive. Whereas the wavelength is of the same order of magnitude as the helix's radius, no frequency dependent correction is necessary to account for the theoretical prediction. This shows that in this regime, the geometric phase results directly from geometry and not from a correction to an adiabatic phase.

Mots clés: Waveguide; Elastic waves; Geometric phase

Domaines: Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]; Vibrations [physics.class-ph]; Vibrations [physics.class-ph]; Physique Générale [physics.gen-ph]

Jérémie Boulanger, Nicolas Le Bihan, Stefan Catheline, Vincent Rossetto. Observation of a non-adiabatic geometric phase for elastic waves. Annals of Physics, 2012, 327 (3), pp.952-958. ⟨10.1016/j.aop.2011.11.014⟩. ⟨hal-00665640⟩