Extraordinary momentum and spin in structured light
Date:
Thursday, September 9, 2021 13:00 - 14:30
Speaker:
Konstantin Bliokh (RIKEN Japan)
Location:
Mondi Seminar Room 2, Central Building
Series:
Physical Sciences Seminar
Host:
Johannes Fink
Contact:
WIDDMANN Sandra
Konstantin Bliokh will overview recent theoretical and experimental studies, which revisit fundamental dynamical properties of light: momentum and angular momentum. A canonical field-theory approach has allowed us to predict qualitatively new types of spin and momentum in structured optical fields. These are:
1. A transverse spin angular momentum, which is orthogonal to the wave vector and is independent of the helicity;
2. An anomalous transverse momentum, which depends on the helicity of light and exerts a weak anomalous optical pressure orthogonal to the wave vector.
Both these quantities have attracted considerable attention and have been described and measured via light-matter interactions in several experiments.