Speaker
Joshua Hainge
Description
The Abraham-Minkowski controversy refers to the ambiguity in defining the momentum of light within a dielectric medium. The choice one has in the partitioning of the total stress energy tensor of a system into a “material” portion and an “electromagnetic” portion has historically led to vigorous debate. The difference between Abraham’s formulation of the momentum density of light in a medium and Minkowski’s version of the same quantity leads to either the presence or absence, respectively, of the so-called “Abraham force” at the level of the equations of motion. We propose an atom-interference experiment for measuring the quantum geometric phase which ultimately gives rise to the Abraham force.
| Keyword-1 | Abraham-Minkowski |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | atom-interferometry |
| Keyword-3 | geometric phase |
Primary author
Joshua Hainge
Co-author
Duncan O'Dell
