Electromagnetic momentum and radiation pressure derived from the Fresnel relations

Electromagnetic momentum and radiation pressure derived from the Fresnel relations.

Using the Fresnel relations as axioms, we derive a generalized electromagnetic momentum for a piecewise homogeneous medium and a different generalized momentum for a medium with a spatially varying refractive index in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) limit. Both generalized momenta depend linearly on the field, but the refractive index appears to different powers due to the difference in tra...

Radiation pressure and the linear momentum

Abstract: We derive an exact expression for the radiation pressure of a quasimonochromatic plane wave incident from the free space onto the flat surface of a semi-infinite dielectric medium. In order to account for the total optical momentum (incident plus reflected) that is transferred to the dielectric, the mechanical momentum acquired by the medium must be added to the rate of flow of the el...

Radiation Pressure and the Photon Momentum in Dielectrics

We review the magnitudes of the photon momenta in free space, derived by Maxwell and Einstein, and those in homogeneous, dispersionless and lossless dielectrics, associated with Abraham and Minkowski. These momenta determine the forces exerted by light beams on material objects, as measured in radiation pressure experiments. It is shown that conservation conditions for components of the electro...

Beams of electromagnetic radiation carrying angular momentum: The Riemann–Silberstein vector and the classical–quantum correspondence

All beams of electromagnetic radiation are made of photons. Therefore, it is important to find a precise relationship between the classical properties of the beam and the quantum characteristics of the photons that make a particular beam. It is shown that this relationship is best expressed in terms of the Riemann–Silberstein vector – a complex combination of the electric and magnetic field vec...

Electromagnetic radiation from bound electrons