Radiation Pressure and Momentum Transfer in Dielectrics: The Photon Drag Effect
Rodney Loudon, Stephen M. Barnett, C. Baxter
Physical Review A,
71, 063802 (2005)
Abstract
The momentum transfer from light to a dielectric material in the photon drag effect is calculated by evaluation of the relevant Lorentz force. In accordance with measurements on
Si and
Ge, the material is taken as a two-component optical system, with charge carriers described by an extinction coefficient
in a host semiconductor described by real refractive indices
(phase) and
(group). The calculated momentum transfer to the charge carriers alone has the value
per photon, the so-called Minkowski value, found experimentally. The time-dependent Lorentz force is calculated for light in the form of a narrow-band single-photon pulse. When the pulse is much shorter than the attenuation length, which is much shorter than the sample thickness, there is a clear separation in time between surface and bulk contributions to the forces. The total bulk momentum transfer (charges plus host) in this case is found to be
, the so-called Abraham value.
