Related papers: Angular momentum of non-paraxial light beam: Depen…
It is shown that the momentum density of free electromagnetic field splits into two parts. One has no contribution to the net momentum due to the transversality condition. The other yields all the momentum. The angular momentum that…
Recent developments in the understanding of optical angular momentum have resulted in many demonstrations of unusual optical phenomena, such as optical beams with orbital angular momentum and transverse spinning light. Here we detail novel…
Fundamental and applied concepts concerning the ability of light beams to carry a certain mechanical angular momentum with respect to the propagation axis are reviewed and discussed. Following issues are included: Historical reference;…
In light beams with circular or elliptic polarization, the transverse energy flow consists of the "spin" and "orbital" parts. Both of them can induce the orbital motion of microparticles suspended within the field of a light beam, and this…
A circularly polarized rotationally symmetric paraxial laser beams carries hbar angular momentum per photon as spin. Focussing the beam with a rotationally symmetric lens cannot change this angular momentum flux, yet the focussed beam must…
We derive exact expressions, in the form of Fourier integrals over the (k,w) domain, for the energy, momentum, and angular momentum of a light pulse propagating in free space. The angular momentum is seen to split naturally into two parts.…
Traditionally, the angular momentum of light is calculated for "bullet-like" electromagnetic wave packets, although in actual optical experiments "pencil-like" beams of light are more commonly used. The fact that a wave packet is bounded…
We provide a vivid demonstration of the mechanical effect of transverse spin momentum in an optical beam in free space. This component of the Poynting momentum was previously thought to be virtual, and unmeasurable. Here, its effect is…
Spin-orbit interactions in optics traditionally describe an influence of the polarization degree of freedom of light on its spatial properties. The most prominent example is the generation of a spin-dependent optical vortex upon focusing or…
We give an exact self-consistent operator description of the spin and orbital angular momenta, position, and spin-orbit interactions of nonparaxial light in free space. Both quantum-operator formalism and classical energy-flow approach are…
It is known that internal energy flow in a light beam can be divided into the orbital flow, associated with the macroscopic energy redistribution within the beam, and the spin flow originating from instantaneous rotation of the field…
It is well known that spin angular momentum of light, and therefore that of photons, is directly related to their circular polarization. Naturally, for totally unpolarized light, polarization is undefined and the spin vanishes. However, for…
For paraxial and non-paraxial light, numerous measures of electromagnetic attribute are expressible in terms of photon annihilation and creation. Accordingly, energy, angular momentum and chirality measures acquire a consistent…
We review basic physics and novel types of optical angular momentum. We start with a theoretical overview of momentum and angular momentum properties of generic optical fields, and discuss methods for their experimental measurements. In…
We demonstrate that the orbital angular momentum flux density of a paraxial light beam can change on propagation in free space. These changes are entirely due to the spatial coherence state of the source, and the effect is analogous to…
This paper analyzes the algebraic and physical properties of the spin and orbital angular momenta of light in the quantum mechanical framework. The consequences of the fact that these are not angular momenta in the quantum mechanical sense…
It is well-known that electric spin angular momentum and electric orbital angular momentum are conserved under paraxial propagation of travelling waves in free-space. Here we study the electric and magnetic angular momentum in…
The expression for the total angular momentum carried by a laser optical vortex beam, splits, in the paraxial approximation, into two terms which seem to represent orbital and spin angular momentum respectively. There are, however, two very…
It has recently been established that a linearly-polarized optical vortex possesses spin angular momentum density in the direction of propagation (longitudinal spin) under tight-focusing. The helicity of light has long been associated with…
Within monochromatic optical fields, we demonstrate the rotating-wave structured light with wave vortex carrying an intrinsic transverse orbital angular momentum orthogonal to the propagation direction of light. Remarkably, we find that…