Radiation Forces and the Abraham-Minkowski Problem

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a number of beautiful experiments in radiation optics. Our purpose with this mini-review is to highlight some developments of radiation pressure physics in general, and thereafter to focus on the importance of the mentioned experiments in regard to the classic Abraham-Minkowski problem. That means, what is the "correct" expression for electromagnetic momentum density in continuous matter. In our opinion one sees relatively often that authors over-interpret the importance of their experimental findings with respect to the momentum problem. Most of these experiments are actually unable to discriminate between these energy-momentum tensors at all, since they can be easily described in terms of force expressions that are common for Abraham and Minkowski. Moreover, we emphasize the inherent ambiguity in applying formal conservation principles to the radiation field in a dielectric, the reason being that the electromagnetic field in matter is only a subsystem which has to be supplemented by the mechanical subsystem to be closed. Finally, we make some suggestions regarding the connection between macroscopic electrodynamics and the Casimir effect, suggesting that there is a limit for the magnitudes of cutoff parameters in QFT related to surface tension in ordinary hydromechanics.

10 pages, no figures, minor changes. Matches published version

References in corpus (10)

• Resolution of the Abraham-Minkowski Controversy
• Momentum exchange between light and a single atom: Abraham or Minkowski?
• Mass-polariton theory of light in dispersive media
• Revisiting the Abraham-Minkowski Dilemma
• Minkowski Momentum Resulting from a Vacuum-Medium Mapping Procedure, and a Brief Review of Minkowski Momentum Experiments
• Electromagnetic $\delta$-function sphere
• On the Possibility of Measuring the Abraham Force using Whispering Gallery Modes
• Casimir Force and its Relation to Surface Tension
• Ponderomotive forces in electrodynamics of moving media: The Minkowski and Abraham approaches
• Nonlinear Laser-Induced Deformations of Liquid-Liquid Interfaces: an Optical Fiber Model

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Analysis of Recent Interpretations of the Abraham-Minkowski Problem
• Covariant theory of light in a dispersive medium
• Hidden momentum in continuous media and the Abraham-Minkowski debate
• Time-dependent theory of optical electro- and magnetostriction
• Time-dependent optical force theory for optomechanics of dispersive 3D photonic materials and devices
• Unraveling the Angular Symmetry of Optical Force in a Solid Dielectric
• Axion electrodynamics: Energy-momentum tensor, and possibilities for experimental tests
• Does the spacelike character of the Minkowski four-momentum show up in analog gravity?
• Classical and quantal aspects of Minkowski's four-momentum in analog gravity
• Fantastic quasi-photon and the symmetries of Maxwell electromagnetic theory, momentum-energy conservation law, and Fermat's principle
• A local model for the optical energy and momentum transfer in dielectric media and the microscopic origin of Abraham's force density
• Energy and momentum conservation upon reflection of a solitary pulse in a bounded magnetized plasma
• Proposal to repeat the Abraham force experiment using giant permittivity materials
• Remarks on the Abraham-Minkowski problem, from the formal and from the experimental side
• Center of mass velocity from Mass Polariton solution to Abraham-Minkowski controversy
• Optical force density and surface displacements in transparent dielectrics due to non-ionizing sub-picosecond laser excitation