Angular momentum of light

2005/04/30 by Alexander Stewart, A. M. Stewart · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #physics.class-ph #physics.optics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/09500340512331326832

published as Journal of Modern Optics 52 (8) 1145-1154 (2005) · 15 pages references updated typos corrected

arxiv created 2005/05/09 · openalex publication_date 2005/05/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

By means of the Helmholtz theorem on the decomposition of vector fields, the angular momentum of the classical electromagnetic field is decomposed, in a general and manifestly gauge invariant manner, into a spin component and an orbital component. The method is applied to linearly and circularly polarized plane waves in their classical and quantum forms.

Citations

• Orbital angular momentum of light and the transformation of Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes
• Classical Electrodynamics

Cited by

• The role of the Riemann–Silberstein vector in classical and quantum theories of electromagnetism
• On the paper 'Role of potentials in the Aharonov-Bohm effect'

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