Magnetic field

Physics

Kinetic energy

Angular momentum

Brillouin zone

Orbital angular momentum of light

Poynting vector

Angular momentum coupling

Quantum electrodynamics

Spin (aerodynamics)

Total angular momentum quantum number

Quantum mechanics

Classical mechanics

Thermodynamics

Angular momentum of light

Physical Review Letters

We examine the momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum of structured monochromatic optical fields in dispersive inhomogeneous isotropic media. There are two bifurcations in this general problem: the Abraham-Minkowski dilemma and the kinetic (Poynting-like) versus canonical (spin-orbital) pictures. We show that the kinetic Abraham momentum describes the energy flux and group velocity of the wave in the medium. At the same time, we introduce novel canonical Minkowski-type momentum, spin, and orbital angular momentum densities of the field. These quantities exhibit fairly natural forms, analogous to the Brillouin energy density, as well as multiple advantages as compared with previously considered formalisms. As an example, we apply this general theory to inhomogeneous surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves at a metal-vacuum interface and show that SPPs carry a "supermomentum," proportional to the wave vector k_{p}>ω/c, and a transverse spin, which can change its sign depending on the frequency ω.

Optical Momentum, Spin, and Angular Momentum in Dispersive Media