Observation of a push force on the end face of a nm fiber taper exerted by outgoing light

Abstract

There are two different proposals for the momentum of light in a transparent dielectric of refractive index n: Minkowski's version nE/c and Abrahm's version E/(nc), where E and c are the energy and vacuum speed of light, respectively. Despite many tests and debates over nearly a century, momentum of light in a transparent dielectric remains controversial. In this Letter, we report a direct observation of the inward push force on the end face of a free nm fiber taper exerted by the outgoing light. Our results clearly support Abraham momentum. Our experiment also indicates an inward surface pressure on a dielectric exerted by the incident light, different from the commonly recognized pressure due to the specular reflection. Such an inward surface pressure by the incident light may be useful for precise design of the laser-induced inertially-confined fusion.

9 pages, 3 figures;Accepted for publication as a Letter in Physical Review Letters(CODE: LP11093)

References in corpus (1)

• The Covariant Description of Electromagnetically Polarizable Media

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• Division of the Energy and of the Momentum of Electromagnetic Waves in Linear Media into Electromagnetic and Material Parts
• Covariant theory of light in a dispersive medium
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• Self alignment and instability of waveguides induced by optical forces
• What is wrong with the interpretation of recent nano-filament experiments?
• A heuristic resolution of the Abraham-Minkowski controversy
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• Reply to "Comment on 'Theoretical analysis of the force on the end face of a nano-filament exerted by an outgoing light pulse'"