Duplex symmetry and its relation to the conservation of optical helicity
Abstract
Helicity is a familiar concept in particle physics and also appears in the physics of fluids and plasmas. In this paper, we present the optical helicity in a form readily applicable to both quantum and classical problems. We examine the relationship between the optical helicity and the more familiar optical spin and show that the conservation of helicity is an expression of the electric-magnetic symmetry for light. We show that helicity is distinct from Lipkin's 00-zilch; a simple relationship exists between the two only for monochromatic fields. It is only the optical helicity that has the correct dimensions of an angular momentum, thereby accurately describing the helicity of light. To illustrate the physical significance of the optical helicity, we consider a circularly polarized plane wave and the field emitted by a rotating electric dipole.
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Physically meaningful properties of the field should respect the Heaviside-Larmor symmetry.
“It follows that physically meaningful properties of the fi eld should also respect this symmetry [37] and this idea has been useful in deriving forms for the spin and orbital angular momenta of the fi eld [38, 39] and for its helicity [40 -45].”
From Optical Dirac equation (2014) · cites this paper as [45]
The required form of the helicity density within the optical Dirac equation is obtained by defining the helicity operator to be Σ·p/p^2, yielding the familiar expression.
“which is the familiar expression [40 -45, 78].”
From Optical Dirac equation (2014) · cites this paper as [45]
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References 35 · Cited by 110
- Authors
- Barnett, S. M., Cameron, R. P., & Yao, A. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- Venue
- Physical Review A
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2012-07-30
- Volume
- 86
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 0556-2791 (ISSN-L)
- 1050-2947
- 1094-1622
- OpenAlex
- W2024236339
- Cited by
- 110
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 4.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physical Review A (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/I012451/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry
- Keywords
- optical helicity, helicity conservation, angular momentum of light, circularly polarized plane waves
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