Geometric phase and wave-particle duality of the photon
Phys. Rev. A 111, 063709 – Published 24 June, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s3hf-2zyr
Abstract
The concepts of geometric phase and wave-particle duality are interlinked to several fundamental phenomena in quantum physics, but their mutual relationship has remained a largely uncharted topic. Here we address this subject by studying the geometric phase of a photon in double-slit interference. In particular, we discover a general complementarity relation for the photon that connects the geometric phase it exhibits in the observation plane and the which-path information it encases at the two slits. The relation can be seen as quantifying wave-particle duality of the photon via the geometric phase, thus corroborating an important link between two ubiquitous notions in quantum physics.
