2015/11/16 by Crenshaw, Michael E.
#FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1511.05139
According to the scientific literature, the momentum of a photon in a simple linear dielectric is either ℏω/(nc) or nℏω/c with a unit vector \bf ek in the direction of propagation. These momentums are typically used to argue the century-old Abraham--Minkowski controversy in which the momentum density of the electromagnetic field in a dielectric is either the Abraham momentum density, \bf gA=\bf E×\bf H/c, or the Minkowski momentum density, \bf gM=\bf D×\bf B/c. The elementary optical excitations, photons, are typically known as polaritions in the particular case of light traveling in a dielectric medium. Applying the relativistic energy formula, we find that the total momentum that is attributable to a polariton in a dielectric is ℏω\bf ek/c corresponding to a total momentum density \bf gT=n\bf E×\bf B/c.