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Optical Momentum, Spin, and Angular Momentum in Dispersive Media
We examine the momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum of structured monochromatic optical fields in dispersive inhomogeneous isotropic media. There are two bifurcations in this general problem: the Abraham-Minkowski dilemma and the kinetic (Poynting-like) versus canonical (spin-orbital) pictur...
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Published in: | Physical review letters 2017-08, Vol.119 (7), p.073901-073901, Article 073901 |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | We examine the momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum of structured monochromatic optical fields in dispersive inhomogeneous isotropic media. There are two bifurcations in this general problem: the Abraham-Minkowski dilemma and the kinetic (Poynting-like) versus canonical (spin-orbital) pictures. We show that the kinetic Abraham momentum describes the energy flux and group velocity of the wave in the medium. At the same time, we introduce novel canonical Minkowski-type momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum densities of the field. These quantities exhibit fairly natural forms, analogous to the Brillouin energy density, as well as multiple advantages as compared with previously considered formalisms. As an example, we apply this general theory to inhomogeneous surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves at a metal-vacuum interface and show that SPPs carry a "supermomentum," proportional to the wave vector k_{p}>ω/c, and a transverse spin, which can change its sign depending on the frequency ω. |
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ISSN: | 0031-9007 1079-7114 |
DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.073901 |