Related papers: A decomposition of light's spin angular momentum d…
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 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…
A novel phenomenon was reported recently that the "local optical spin density" based on Poynting vector might be counter-intuitively opposite to the integrated spin orientation while the one related to the canonical expression might not…
The insight that optical vortex beams carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), which emerged in Leiden about 30 years ago, has since led to an ever expanding range of applications and follow-up studies. This paper starts with a short personal…
We calculate analytically the spin-orbital decomposition of the angular momentum using completely non-paraxial fields that have certain degree of linkage of electric and magnetic lines. The split of the angular momentum into spin-orbital…
In this work, an explicit formula is deduced for identifying the orbital angular moment (OAM) of vectorial vortex with space-variant state of polarization (SOP). Different to scalar vortex, the OAM of vectorial vortex can be attributed to…
Light is the fundamental medium through which we perceive the world around us. In the modern era, light can not only be used in its raw form but can also be used as a versatile tool. Generally, light fields carry energy and momentum (both…
We develop a general framework to analyze the two important and much discussed questions concerning (a) `orbital' and `spin' angular momentum carried by light and (b) the paraxial approximation of the free Maxwell system both in the…
Optical beams with a new and distinctive type of helicity have become the subject of much recent interest. While circularly polarised light comprises photons with spin angular momentum, these optically engineered 'twisted beams' (optical…
Spin-orbital coupling and interaction as intrinsic light fields characteristics have been extensively studied. Previous studies involve the spin angular momentum (SAM) carried by circular polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM)…
Local propagation and energy flux in structured optical fields is often associated with the Poynting vector. However, the local phase gradient (i.e., local wavevector) in monochromatic fields in free space is described by another…
For light, its spin can be independent of the spatial distribution of its wave function, whereas its intrinsic orbital angular momentum does depend on this distribution. This difference suggests that the spin Hall effect might differ from…
The past decades have seen substantial interest in the so-called orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light, driven largely by its diverse range of applications. However, there are fundamental theoretical issues with decomposing the angular…
We investigate the coupling of the spin angular momentum of light beams with elliptical polarization to the spin degree of freedom of free electrons. It is shown that this coupling, which is of similar origin as the well-known spin-orbit…
The measurement of the spin angular momentum of circularly polarized light by Beth [Phys. Rev. 50, 115 (1936)] can be explained by using a microscopic torque density. However, the experiment does not resolve the space- and time-dependent…
It has been assumed for a century that the energy-momentum tensor of the photon takes a symmetric form, with the renowned Poynting vector assigned as the same density for momentum and energy flow. Here we show that the symmetry of the…
Plasmonic Optical matter (OM), composed of optically bound metallic particles, can be rotated by transferring the spin angular momentum (SAM) of chiral light to the assembly. Rotating OM is a promising platform for optical micromachines,…
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…
Motivated by the recent discovery of electron vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (AM), we construct exact Bessel-beam solutions of the Dirac equation. They describe relativistic and nonparaxial corrections to the scalar electron…
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons is carried upon the wave front of an optical vortex and is important in physics research due to its fundamental degree of freedom. As for the interaction with materials, the optical OAM was shown to…