Propagation of a light pulse inside matter in a context of the Abraham–Minkowski dilemma

Abstract

It is shown that a light pulse propagating in an optical medium exerts the optical pressure on the medium in the regions where leading and trailing edges are propagating. This effect is derived from analysis of unambiguous thought experiments which results contradict one other. It is shown that a magnitude of the pressure is equal to (n−1/n)W0, where n and W0 is the refractive index of the medium and the momentum flux density of the same pulse in free space, respectively. The Abraham form of the momentum of light is redundant if the optical pressure is taken into account. In this case the dilemma disappears because one of the rival alternatives disappears.