Division of the momentum of electromagnetic waves in linear media into electromagnetic and material parts

Energy and momentum conservation upon reflection of a solitary pulse in a bounded magnetized plasma

When the nature of a magnetosonic pulse propagating in a bounded magnetized plasma slab is successively transformed from compression to rarefaction and vice versa upon reflection at a plasma-vacuum interface, both the energy and the longitudinal electromagnetic (EM) momentum of the plasma-pulse system are found to oscillate between two states. Simple analytical models and particle-in-cell simulations show that these oscillations are associated with EM radiation to and from the surrounding magnetized vacuum. For partial reflection supplemental losses in total pulse energy and mechanical momentum are identified and shown to follow, respectively, Fresnel's transmission coefficients for the energy and the magnetic perturbation. This mechanical momentum loss upon partial reflection is traced to the momentarily nonzero volume-integrated Lorentz force, which in turn supports that mechanical and EM momentum transfers are, respectively, associated with the magnetic and electric parts of the momentum flux density.

Simulations of radiation pressure experiments narrow down the energy and momentum of light in matter

Consensus on a single electrodynamic theory has yet to be reached. Discord was seeded over a century ago when Abraham and Minkowski proposed different forms of electromagnetic momentum density and has since expanded in scope with the gradual introduction of other forms of momentum and force densities. Although degenerate sets of electrodynamic postulates can be fashioned to comply with global energy and momentum conservation, hope remains to isolate a single theory based on detailed comparison between force density predictions and radiation pressure experiments. This comparison is two-fold challenging because there are just a handful of quantitative radiation pressure measurements over the past century and the solutions developed from different postulates, which consist of approximate expressions and inferential deductions, are scattered throughout the literature. For these reasons, it is appropriate to conduct a consolidated and comprehensive re-analysis of past experiments under the assumption that the momentum and energy of light in matter are degenerate. We create a combined electrodynamic/fluid dynamic simulation testbed that uses five historically significant sets of electrodynamic postulates, including those by Abraham and Minkowski, to model radiation pressure under diverse configurations with minimal assumptions. This leads to new interpretations of landmark investigations of light momentum, including the Balazs thought experiment, the Jones-Richards and Jones-Leslie measurements of radiation pressure on submerged mirrors, observations of laser-deformed fluid surfaces, and experiments on optical trapping and tractor beaming of dielectric particles. We discuss the merits and demerits of each set of postulates when compared to available experimental evidence and fundamental conservation laws. Of the five sets of postulates, the Abraham and Einstein-Laub postulates provide the greatest consistency with observations and the most physically plausible descriptions of electrodynamic interactions. Force density predictions made by these two postulates are unique under many conditions and their experimental isolation is potentially within reach.

Comment on "Trouble with the Lorentz law of force: incompatibility with special relativity and momentum conservation"

A Comment on the Letter by M. Mansuripur, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 193901 (2012). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.

Revisiting the Balazs thought experiment in the case of a left-handed material: electromagnetic-pulse-induced displacement of a dispersive, dissipative negative-index slab

We propose a set of postulates to describe the mechanical interaction between a plane-wave electromagnetic pulse and a dispersive, dissipative slab having a refractive index of arbitrary sign. The postulates include the Abraham electromagnetic momentum density, a generalized Lorentz force law, and a model for absorption-driven mass transfer from the pulse to the medium. These opto-mechanical mechanisms are incorporated into a one-dimensional finite-difference time-domain algorithm that solves Maxwell's equations and calculates the instantaneous force densities exerted by the pulse onto the slab, the momentum-per-unit-area of the pulse and slab, and the trajectories of the slab and system center-of-mass. We show that the postulates are consistent with conservation of global energy, momentum, and center-of-mass velocity at all times, even for cases in which the refractive index of the slab is negative or zero. Consistency between the set of postulates and well-established conservation laws reinforces the Abraham momentum density as the one true electromagnetic momentum density and enables, for the first time, identification of the correct form of the electromagnetic mass density distribution and development of an explicit model for mass transfer due to absorption, for the most general case of a ponderable medium that is both dispersive and dissipative.

Total longitudinal momentum in a dispersive optical waveguide

Using the Lorentz force law, we derived simpler expressions for the total longitudinal (conserved) momentum and the mechanical momentums associated with an optical pulse propagating along a dispersive optical waveguide. These expressions can be applied to an arbitrary non-absorptive optical waveguide having continuous translational symmetry. Our simulation using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method verified that the total momentum formula is valid in a two-dimensional infinite waveguide. We studied the conservation of the total momentum and the transfer of the momentum to the waveguide for the case when an optical pulse travels from a finite waveguide to vacuum. We found that neither the Abraham nor the Minkowski momentum expression for an electromagnetic wave in a waveguide represents the complete total (conserved) momentum. Only the total momentum as we derived for a mode propagating in a dispersive optical waveguides is the 'true' conserved momentum. This total momentum can be expressed as PTot = -U Die/(vg) + neff (U/c). It has three contributions: (1) the Abraham momentum; (2) the momentum from the Abraham force, which equals to the difference between the Abraham momentum and the Minkowski momentum; and (3) the momentum from the dipole force which can be expressed as -UDie/vg. The last two contributions constitute the mechanical momentum. Compared with FDTD-Lorentz-force method, the presently derived total momentum formula provides a better method in terms of analyzing the permanent transfer of optical momentum to a waveguide.