The time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a spin particle in a rotating magnetic field is solved analytically by the cranking method, and the exact solutions are employed to study the nonadiabatic Berry’s phase. An alternative expression for Berry’s phase is given, which shows that Berry’s phase is related to the expectation value of spin along the rotating axis and gives Berry’s phase a physical explanation besides its gauge geometric interpretation. This expression also presents a simple algorithm for calculating the nonadiabatic Berry’s phase for Hamiltonians that are nonlinear functions of the SU(2) generators. It is shown that nonadiabaticity alters the time evolution ray and in turn changes its Berry’s phase. For the SU(2) dynamical group, the nonadiabatic effect on Berry’s phase manifests itself as spin alignment (a phenomenon in nuclear physics), and spin-alignment quantization (observed recently in high-spin nuclear physics) is related to Berry’s-phase quantization.

• Received 12 July 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.42.5107