Abstract
All beams are a superposition of plane waves, which carry linear momentum in the direction of propagation with no net azimuthal component. However, plane waves incident on a hologram can produce a vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum that seems to require an azimuthal linear momentum, which presents a paradox. We resolve this by showing that the azimuthal momentum is not a true linear momentum but the azimuthal momentum density is a true component of the linear momentum density.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 103602 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Sept 2013 |
Keywords
- beams
- vortex beams
- orbital angular momentum
- azimuthal linear momentum
- linear momentum density