Abstract
The effect of radiation forces at the interface between dielectric materials has been a long-standing debate for over a century. Yet there has been so far only limited experimental verification in complete accordance with the theory. Here we measure the surface deformation at the air–water interface induced by continuous and pulsed laser excitation and match this to rigorous theory of radiation forces. We demonstrate that the experimental results are quantitatively described by the numerical calculations of radiation forces. The Helmholtz force is used for the surface radiation pressure. The resulting surface pressure obtained is consistent with the momentum conservation using the Minkowski momentum density expression assuming that the averaged momentum per photon is given by the Minkowski momentum. Considering the total momentum as a sum of that propagating with the electromagnetic wave and that deposited locally in the material, the Abraham momentum interpretation also appears to be appropriate.
Highlights
The effect of radiation forces at the interface between dielectric materials has been a long-standing debate for over a century
The effects of radiation pressure exerted on a dielectric surface exposed to electromagnetic radiation can be interpreted as the transfer of momentum from photons at the surface parallel to the propagation of the incident electromagnetic radiation
The Minkowski–Abraham controversy has apparently been resolved by identifying the Abraham momentum as the kinetic momentum and the Minkowski momentum as the canonical momentum[6]
Summary
The effect of radiation forces at the interface between dielectric materials has been a long-standing debate for over a century. There has been so far only limited experimental tests[6,17] of our understanding of radiative transfer between electromagnetic radiation and dielectric media This is, of great importance when the problem defied conclusive theoretical description for almost a full century. In the classical experiment of radiation pressure of Ashkin and Dziedzic[23], for instance, normally incident tightly focused laser pulses generated deformations of air–water interface, and it was found that liquid surface experienced a net outward force (Minkowski momentum) regardless of the direction of laser propagation. The experiment presented in the current research is a significant advance over this important contribution of Ashkin and Dziedzic[23] It tests our understanding of dynamics and momentum transfer in coupled electromagnetic/dielectric systems, which is greatly needed, given the historical difficulty involved in understanding these systems. We use the photomechanical mirror (PM) method to measure the timedependent nanometre-scale deformation generated on the water surface due to the radiation forces by exciting the sample with continuous or pulsed lasers
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