Consistent formalism for the momentum of electromagnetic waves in lossless dispersive metamaterials and the conservation of momentum

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new formalism for analyzing electromagnetic and mechanical momentum in lossless dispersive metamaterials, demonstrating momentum conservation and the directionality of momentum relative to energy flow.

Contribution

It develops a wave-packet integral formalism to clearly identify electromagnetic and mechanical momentum densities and flows in metamaterials, including impedance effects and energy conservation.

Findings

Electromagnetic and mechanical momenta are aligned with energy flow, not wave vector.

The ratio of electromagnetic to mechanical momentum depends on impedance and group velocity.

Total momentum conservation is verified in the formalism.

Abstract

A new formalism for electromagnetic and mechanical momenta in a metamaterial is developed by means of the technique of wave-packet integrals. The medium has huge mass density and can therefore be regarded as almost stationary upon incident electromagnetic waves. A clear identification of momentum density and momentum flow, including their electromagnetic and mechanical parts, is obtained by employing this formalism in a lossless dispersive metamaterial (including the cases of impedance matching and mismatching with vacuum). It is found that the ratio of the electromagnetic momentum density to the mechanical momentum density depends on the impedance and group velocity of the electromagnetic wave inside the metamaterial. One of the definite results is that both the electromagnetic momentum and the mechanical momentum in the metamaterial are in the same direction as the energy flow, instead of in the direction of the wave vector. The conservation of total momentum is verified. In addition, the law of energy conservation in the process of normal incidence is also verified by using the wave-packet integral of both the electromagnetic energy density and the electromagnetic power density, of which the latter is caused by the interaction between the induced (polarized) currents and the electromagnetic wave.