Interference with coupled microcavities: Optical analog of spin 2π rotations

It is well known that spinor wave functions change their sign under 2π rotation. Several experiments have used magnetic precession of neutrons to implement rotations. Here we propose an all-optical analog of this effect based on time-resolved optical interference in coupled optical microcavities. We show that feeding the coupled-microcavity system with a pair of phase-locked probe pulses, separated by precise delay times, provides direct information on the sign change of the transmitted field after one complete Rabi-like oscillation period. © 2011 American Physical Society.