Theory Department
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
1997    
1998    
1999    
2000    
2001    
2002    
2003    
2004    
2005    
2006    
2007    
2008    
2009    
2010    
2011    
2012    
2013    
2014    
2015    
2016    
2017    
2018    
2019    
2020    
2021    
Bruno, P.

Nonquantized Dirac monopoles and strings in the Berry phase of anisotropic spin systems
Physical Review Letters 93, (24),pp 247202/1-4 (2004)
The Berry phase of an anisotropic spin system that is adiabatically rotated along a closed circuit C is investigated. It is shown that the Berry phase consists of two contributions: (i) a geometric contribution which can be interpreted as the flux through C of a nonquantized Dirac monopole, and (ii) a topological contribution which can be interpreted as the flux through C of a Dirac string carrying a nonquantized flux, i.e., a spin analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Various experimental consequences of this novel effect are discussed.

TH-2004-34