Related papers: Spin and orbital angular momenta of electromagneti…
Angular momenta of electromagnetic waves are important both in concepts and applications. In this work, we systematically discuss two types of angular momenta, i.e., spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum in various cases, e.g.,…
A single electromagnetic plane-wave propagating in free space possesses neither spin nor orbital angular momentum. Both types of angular momentum arise from interference between pairs of plane-waves having the same temporal frequency…
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.…
Motivated by recent theoretical and experimental interest in the spin and orbital angular momenta of elastic waves, we revisit canonical wave momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum in isotropic elastic media. We show that these…
Waves of various types carry momentum, which is associated with their propagation direction, i.e., the phase gradient. The circulation of the wave momentum density gives rise to orbital angular momentum (AM). Additionally, for waves…
In the context of a growing interdisciplinary interest in the angular momentum of wave fields, the spin-wave case has yet to be fully explored, with the extensively studied notion of spin transport being only part of the broader picture.…
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…
The angular momentum of a classical electromagnetic plane wave of arbitrary extent is predicted to be, on theoretical grounds, exactly zero. However, finite sections of circularly polarized plane waves are found experimentally to carry…
A classical circularly polarized electromagnetic wave carries angular momentum, and represents the classical limit of a photon, which carries quantized spin. It is shown that a very similar picture of a circularly polarized coherent wave…
Spin angular momentum of a photon corresponds to a polarisation degree of freedom of lights, and such that various polarisation properties are coming from macroscopic manifestation of quantum-mechanical properties of lights. An orbital…
By means of the Helmholtz theorem on the decomposition of vector fields, the angular momentum of the classical electromagnetic field is decomposed, in a general and manifestly gauge invariant manner, into a spin component and an orbital…
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…
Invoking Maxwell's classical equations in conjunction with expressions for the electromagnetic (EM) energy, momentum, force, and torque, we use a few simple examples to demonstrate the nature of the EM angular momentum. The energy and the…
A decomposition of the angular momentum of the classical electromagnetic field into orbital and spin components that is manifestly gauge invariant and general has been obtained. This is done by decomposing the electric field into its…
We show that the spectrum of orbital angular momentum in quantum mechanics consists of two parts when the underlying space has periodic boundaries. While the first part consists of the usual textbook integer quantized values, the second is…
Electromagnetic waves with an azimuthal phase shift are known to have a well defined orbital angular momentum. Different methods that allow for the detection of the angular momentum are proposed. For some, we discuss the required…
We review and re-examine the description and separation of the spin and orbital angular momenta (AM) of an electromagnetic field in free space. While the spin and orbital AM of light are not separately-meaningful physical quantities in…
The relationship between classical and quantum mechanics is explored in an intuitive manner by the exercise of constructing a wave in association with a classical particle. Using special relativity, the time coordinate in the frame of…
The motion of a particle with a spin in spherical harmonic oscillator potential with spin-orbit interaction is studied. We have focus our attention on spatial motion of wave packets, giving a description complementary to motion of spin…
Orbital angular momentum eigenfunctions are readily understood in terms of spherical harmonic wavefunctions. However, the quantum mechanical phenomenon of spin is often said to be mysterious and hard to visualize, with no classical…