English

Optical angular momentum in dispersive media

Optics 2015-06-05 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

The angular momentum density and flux of light in a dispersive, rotationally symmetric medium are derived from Noether's theorem. Optical angular momentum in a dispersive medium has no simple relation to optical linear momentum, even if the medium is homogeneous. A circularly polarized monochromatic beam in a homogeneous, dispersive medium carries a spin angular momentum of ±\pm\hbar per energy ω\hbar\omega, as in vacuum. This result demonstrates the non-trivial interplay of dispersive contributions to optical angular momentum and energy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1205.4929,
  title  = {Optical angular momentum in dispersive media},
  author = {T. G. Philbin and O. Allanson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.4929},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:07:57.502Z