English

Multipolar Origin of the Unexpected Transverse Force Resulting from Two-Wave Interference

Optics 2020-08-12 v1

Abstract

We propose a theoretical study on the electromagnetic forces resulting from the superposition of a TE and TM plane waves interacting with a sphere. Specifically, we first show that, under such an illumination condition, the sphere is subjected to a force transverse to the propagation direction of the waves. We then analyze the physical origin of this counter-intuitive behavior using a multipolar decomposition of the electromagnetic modes involved in that scattering process. This analysis reveals that interference effects, due to the two-wave illumination, lead to a Kerker-like asymmetric scattering behavior resulting in this peculiar transverse force.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2005.02881,
  title  = {Multipolar Origin of the Unexpected Transverse Force Resulting from Two-Wave Interference},
  author = {Karim Achouri and Andrei Kiselev and Olivier J. F. Martin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.02881},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T15:21:19.325Z