TY - GEN
T1 - Whence the minkowski momentum?
AU - Mansuripur, Masud
AU - Zakharian, Armis R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work has been supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under contract number FA 9550-04-1-0213 .
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Electromagnetic waves carry the Abraham momentum, whose density is given by pEM = S(r, t)/c2. Here S(r, t) = E(r, t)×H(r, t) is the Poynting vector at point r in space and instant t in time, E and H are the local electromagnetic fields, and c is the speed of light in vacuum. The above statement is true irrespective of whether the waves reside in vacuum or within a ponderable medium, which medium may or may not be homogeneous, isotropic, transparent, linear, magnetic, etc. When a light pulse enters an absorbing medium, the force experienced by the medium is only partly due to the absorbed Abraham momentum. This absorbed momentum, of course, is manifested as Lorentz force (while the pulse is being extinguished within the absorber), but not all the Lorentz force experienced by the medium is attributable to the absorbed Abraham momentum. We consider an absorptive/reflective medium having the complex refractive index n2+ik2, submerged in a transparent dielectric of refractive index n1, through which light must travel to reach the absorber/reflector. Depending on the impedance-mismatch between the two media, which mismatch is dependent on n1, n2, k 2, either more or less light will be coupled into the absorber/reflector. The dependence of this impedance-mismatch on n1 is entirely responsible for the appearance of the Minkowski momentum in certain radiation pressure experiments that involve submerged objects.
AB - Electromagnetic waves carry the Abraham momentum, whose density is given by pEM = S(r, t)/c2. Here S(r, t) = E(r, t)×H(r, t) is the Poynting vector at point r in space and instant t in time, E and H are the local electromagnetic fields, and c is the speed of light in vacuum. The above statement is true irrespective of whether the waves reside in vacuum or within a ponderable medium, which medium may or may not be homogeneous, isotropic, transparent, linear, magnetic, etc. When a light pulse enters an absorbing medium, the force experienced by the medium is only partly due to the absorbed Abraham momentum. This absorbed momentum, of course, is manifested as Lorentz force (while the pulse is being extinguished within the absorber), but not all the Lorentz force experienced by the medium is attributable to the absorbed Abraham momentum. We consider an absorptive/reflective medium having the complex refractive index n2+ik2, submerged in a transparent dielectric of refractive index n1, through which light must travel to reach the absorber/reflector. Depending on the impedance-mismatch between the two media, which mismatch is dependent on n1, n2, k 2, either more or less light will be coupled into the absorber/reflector. The dependence of this impedance-mismatch on n1 is entirely responsible for the appearance of the Minkowski momentum in certain radiation pressure experiments that involve submerged objects.
KW - Electromagnetic theory
KW - Lorentz force
KW - Photon momentum
KW - Radiation pressure
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U2 - 10.1117/12.825479
DO - 10.1117/12.825479
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70449623347
SN - 9780819476906
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI
T2 - Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI
Y2 - 2 August 2009 through 6 August 2009
ER -