Spin and orbital angular momenta of electromagnetic waves in classical and quantum electrodynamics

Abstract

A plane, monochromatic electromagnetic wave propagating in free space can have a certain amount of spin angular momentum but cannot possess any orbital angular momentum. Even the spin angular momentum of the plane-wave is difficult to evaluate without resort to certain mathematical limit arguments. Both spin and orbital angular momenta can be computed for a wavepacket of finite duration and finite cross-sectional area using standard methods of classical electrodynamics. Extending these results to finite wavepackets in quantum electrodynamics requires subtle arguments in conjunction with the multimodal structure of the wavepacket. This paper presents some of the nuances of classical as well as quantum-optical methods for analyzing the spin and orbital angular momenta of electromagnetic waves.