Oblique superposition of two elliptically polarized lightwaves using geometric algebra: Is energy-momentum conserved?

Michelle Wynne C. Sze, Quirino M. Sugon, Daniel J. McNamara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we use Clifford (geometric) algebra Cl3,0 to verify if electromagnetic energy-momentum density is still conserved for oblique superposition of two elliptically polarized plane waves with the same frequency. We show that energy-momentum conservation is valid at any time only for the superposition of two counterpropagating elliptically polarized plane waves. We show that the time-average energy-momentum of the superposition of two circularly polarized waves with opposite handedness is conserved regardless of the propagation directions of the waves. And, we show that the resulting momentum density of the superposed waves generally has a vector component perpendicular to the momentum densities of the individual waves.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2468-2479
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics and Image Science, and Vision
Volume27
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2010
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

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