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9 - Quantum electrodynamics, angular momentum and chirality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

By
David L. Andrews  and
Mohamed Babiker
Edited by
David L. Andrews  and
Mohamed Babiker
David L. Andrews
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry
Mohamed Babiker
Affiliation:
University of York
David L. Andrews
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Mohamed Babiker
Affiliation:
University of York
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Summary

Introduction

When light engages with matter, the interactions that take place at the photon level are subject to the operation of powerful underlying symmetry laws. Such principles underpin the physics of even the simplest photon interactions, as for instance in the familiar Planck- Einstein relation E = hν for the absorption or emission of radiation. As emerged from Noether's work [1], this manifestation of overall conservation of energy is a direct consequence of a system invariance under temporal translation [2]. In connection with specific atomic photophysics, the term ‘selection rule’ is often used in connection with other space or time symmetries, these frequently being manifest as constraints over the conservation of quantized angular momentum. Obvious examples are the rules that govern the ‘allowed’ and ‘forbidden’ lines in atomic spectra, where the associated conditions over the geometric disposition and flow of charge emerge in the form of transition multipoles [3, 4].

The angular momentum attributes of light are most familiar in connection with the integer spin of the photon. Circularly polarized states have well-defined spin angular momentum along the direction of propagation [5], and numerous chiral or gyrotropic interactions exploit the differences in behaviour – observed in a material that is itself chirally constituted – between light beams of left- and right-handedness [6–8]. The principles are well known, and their applications have a surprisingly wide compass.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Angular Momentum of Light , pp. 246 - 263
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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