Measuring the Aharonov-Anandan phase in multiport photonic systems

Beyond the adiabatic limit, the Aharonov-Anandan phase is a generalized description of Berry's phase. In this regime, systems with time-independent Hamiltonians may also acquire observable geometric phases. Here we report on a measurement of the Aharonov-Anandan phase in photonics. Different from previous optical experiments on geometric phases, the implementation is based on light modes confined in evanescently coupled waveguides rather than polarization-like systems, thereby physical models in more than two-dimensional Hilbert spaces are achievable. In a tailored photonic lattice, we realize time-independent quantum-driven harmonic oscillators initially prepared in the vacuum state and achieve a measurement of the Aharonov-Anandan phase via integrated interferometry.