Transverse Spin and Momentum in Two-Wave Interference

Abstract

We analyze the interference field formed by two electromagnetic plane waves (with the same frequency but different wave vectors), and find that such a field reveals a rich and highly nontrivial structure of the local momentum and spin densities. Despite the seemingly planar and extensively studied character of the two-wave system, we find that it possesses a transverse (out-of-plane) helicity-independent spin density and also a transverse polarization-dependent momentum density with unusual physical properties. The polarization-dependent transverse momentum represents the so-called Belinfante spin momentum, which does not exert the usual optical pressure and is considered as “virtual” in field theory. We perform analytical estimations and exact numerical simulations of the interaction of the two-wave field with probe Mie particles. The results of these calculations clearly indicate the straightforward detectability of the unusual spin and momentum properties in the two-wave field and strongly motivate their future experimental verifications.