Optical eddies in small-mode fibers: II. The spin-orbit interaction

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 polarizati on correction delta beta to the propagation constant. The operator of spin- orbit interaction of normal eddies is constructed. The average physical val ue of this operator is equal to the polarization correction delta beta. The operator of spin-orbit interaction consists of two parts. One part determi ned 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.