Optical Eddies in Small-Mode FibersII. The Spin-Orbit Interaction: English translation of Optika Spektroskopiya

The nature of the topological phase of optical eddies in a small-mode fiber is studied. It is shown that the topological phase results from precession of the Poynting vector of the normal wave and characterizes the polarization correction δβ to the propagation constant. The operator of spin-orbit interaction of normal eddies is constructed. The average physical value of this operator is equal to the polarization correction δβ. The operator of spin-orbit interaction consists of two parts. One part determined polarization corrections to CV-eddies and the second one, polarization corrections to TE- and TM-modes. Such a separation of the operator into two parts, which describe different optical processes, implies that two types of birefringence take place in the locally isotropic inhomogeneous medium.