2003/07/19 by Rajendra Bhandari, Bhandari, Rajendra
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry #Optical and Acousto-Optic Technologies #Optics (physics.optics) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0307097
To appear in Proceedings, 8th Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics held at University of Rochester, June 13-16, 2001
arxiv created 2003/07/19 · openalex publication_date 2003/07/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In an earlier work (R. Bhandari, Phys. Lett. A 204 (1995) 188), it was shown that, contrary to the property of achromaticity (independence of wavelength) usually associated with topological phases, topological phases encountered in polarization optics can, under certain conditions, show sharp changes and reversals as a function of wavelength, a phenomenon originating in the occurrence of phase singularities, earlier observed in interference experiments. It was shown that a proposed flat lens capable of focussing light with pure geometric phase shifts can switch from being convex to a concave lens or vice versa under these conditions. In this paper conditions under which such reversals can take place for small changes in wavelength are described. Some general implications of phase singularities in the physics of interference are pointed out.