The geometric phase of rotations and 3D coordinate transformations

Abstract: The wave description of geometric phase uses the superposition of light waves to explain the geometric phase's origin. While our previous work focused on a basis of linearly polarized waves, here we show that the same concepts can be applied to circularly polarized waves, and to any case in which a rotator is itself subjected to rotation. As with a linear polarization basis, we show that the addition of two vectors (rotators) with different orientations and magnitudes causes the orientation of the resulting vector to shift towards the component vector of greater magnitude, i.e. it introduces a geometric phase. We illustrate this approach with two classic examples of the geometric phase of rotations in space: a system of three fold mirrors, and the helical coiled fiber. In both cases we show that it is possible to derive the phase shift directly from the electromagnetic wave vector without needing to resort to mathematical abstractions such as differential geometry, or calculating solid angles in the space of directions.