Abstract

In a classical experiment, Jones et al. have measured that the recoil effect of light reflecting from a body immersed in a dielectric liquid is proportional to the refractive index, n.¹ This observation revived the so called Abraham-Minkowski controversy related to the question whether the recoil effect is proportional to n⁻¹ or to n. The confusion was essentially due to the fact that the vacuum momentum of the light may be divided between the medium and the electromagnetic wave.² It still seems an open question how the torsional recoil due to transfer of angular momentum inside a dielectric medium will behave. We have therefore performed an experimental study of this issue.

© 1994 IEEE