Pancharatnam–Berry phase in condensate of indirect excitons

The Pancharatnam–Berry phase is a geometric phase acquired over a cycle of parameters in the Hamiltonian governing the evolution of the system. Here, we report on the observation of the Pancharatnam–Berry phase in a condensate of indirect excitons (IXs) in a GaAs-coupled quantum well structure. The Pancharatnam–Berry phase is directly measured by detecting phase shifts of interference fringes in IX interference patterns. Correlations are found between the phase shifts, polarization pattern of IX emission, and onset of IX spontaneous coherence. The evolving Pancharatnam–Berry phase is acquired due to coherent spin precession in IX condensate and is observed with no decay over lengths exceeding 10 μm indicating long-range coherent spin transport. Geometric phases in matter are of fundamental interest. Here the authors observe the Pancharatnam–Berry phase in matter waves by imaging light interference patterns from cold gases of indirect excitons and find long-range coherent spin transport in the system.