Off-diagonal geometric phase for mixed states.

We extend the off-diagonal geometric phase [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3067 (2000)]] to mixed quantal states. The nodal structure of this phase in the qubit (two-level) case is compared with that of the diagonal mixed state geometric phase [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2845 (2000)]]. Extension to higher dimensional Hilbert spaces is delineated. A physical scenario for the off-diagonal mixed state geometric phase in polarization-entangled two-photon interferometry is proposed.