Comparison of different forms for the "spin" and "orbital" components of the angular momentum of light
Classical Physics
2012-01-31 v5 Optics
Abstract
We compare three attempts that have been made to decompose the angular momentum of the electromagnetic field into components of an "orbital" and "spin" nature. All three expressions are different and it appears, on the basis of classical electrodynamics, that there is no preferred way of decomposing the angular momentum of the electromagnetic field into orbital and spin components, even in an inertial frame.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1010.1056,
title = {Comparison of different forms for the "spin" and "orbital" components of the angular momentum of light},
author = {A. M. Stewart},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.1056},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
Some clarifications. 7 pages pdf. Earlier version published in International Journal of Optics: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijo/aip/728350/