Spin and angular momentum operators and their conservation

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Abstract

Lorentz's reciprocity lemma and the Feld-Tai reciprocity theorem show the effect of interchanging the action and reaction in Maxwell's equations. We derive a free space version of these reciprocity relations which generalizes the conservation of the momentum-energy tensor. This relation corresponds to the interference conservation of electromagnetic waves. We show that for any transformation or symmetry that leaves Maxwell's equations invariant, we can modify the reciprocity relation to introduce conserved density, optical flux and stress tensor, applying Noether's theorem in a different context. We apply this method to transformations that can be expressed as Hermitian operators and, more specifically, we define the operators associated with the optical energy, spin, linear and angular momentum.

Original languageEnglish
Article number094005
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
Volume11
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Apr 2009

Keywords

  • Conserving currents
  • Spin density
  • Orbital angular momentum density
  • Eigenmodes
  • Electromagnetic theory
  • Paraxial beams
  • Light
  • Reciprocity
  • Fields

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