Angular momentum of light
Abstract
Description
By means of the Helmholtz theorem on the decomposition of vector fields, the angular momentum of the classical electromagnetic field is decomposed, in a general and manifestly gauge invariant manner, into a spin component and an orbital component. The method is applied to linearly and circularly polarized plane waves in their classical and quantum forms.
15 pages references updated typos corrected
15 pages references updated typos corrected