Angular momentum balance and transverse shifts on reflection of light
Abstract
Many years ago it was pointed out by Holbourn (1936) that there is an apparent breakdown on angular momentum conservation on reflection of circularly polarised light. The author points out that the discrepancy may be resolved by considering transverse positional shifts on reflection as described by Schilling (1965), Imbert (1972) and subsequent authors, and examines the values of the shifts necessary to satisfy angular momentum conservation in various situations. It is found that shifts satisfactory in this respect may be obtained by use of a fairly general phase-shift argument-similar in formalism to that used by Julia and Neveu (1973)-at least for the case of total reflection. However, the situation is less satisfactory for partial reflection, nor is it clear that the shift values, even for the case of total reflection, agree with those measured by Imbert and others, or calculated numerically as by Ashby and Miller (1976) for instance. It is suggested that further experimental work may be useful in clarifying the situation.
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A similar interaction between the IOAM and EOAM occurs for vortex beams in inhomogeneous media, causing l-dependent transverse shifts at medium inhomogeneities (orbital-Hall effect).
“A quite similar interaction between the IOAM and EOAM (vortex and trajectory) occurs for vortex beams in inhomogeneous media 18,64,90- 95 . In this case, beams experience -dependent transverse shifts at the medium inhomogeneities.”
From Spin–orbit interactions of light (2015) · cites this paper as [91]
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- Authors
- Player, M. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Player, M A
- Venue
- Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 1987-08-21
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 3667-3678
- ISSN
- 0305-4470 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6447
- OpenAlex
- W2059276093
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry
- Keywords
- angular momentum conservation, light reflection, transverse shift, circularly polarized light, total internal reflection, partial reflection, phase shift, angular momentum balance
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