Abstract
Electromagnetic angular momentum describes the ability of electromagnetic field to impose torque on matter. We show that for an electromagnetic field – such as an optical beam field – in a medium, the torque density is determined by two fundamental quantities: the angular momentum flux tensor and the angular momentum density of the field. It is remarkable that the tensor alone gives the full picture of the angular momentum transfer between the field and the medium in all stationary electromagnetic phenomena. We derive a general expression for this tensor and apply the theory to several important examples without resorting to the classical paraxial approximation.
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Shevchenko, A. Electromagnetic angular momentum flux tensor in a medium. Eur. Phys. J. D 66, 167 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30061-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30061-1