Off-diagonal geometric phase for mixed states

Abstract

We extend the off-diagonal geometric phase [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 85}, 3067 (2000)] to mixed quantal states. The nodal structure of this phase in the qubit (two-level) case is compared with that of the diagonal mixed state geometric phase [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 85}, 2845 (2000)]. Extension to higher dimensional Hilbert spaces is delineated. A physical scenario for the off-diagonal mixed state geometric phase in polarization-entangled two-photon interferometry is proposed.Comment: small corrections; journal reference adde