Motion of classical charged particles with magnetic moment in external plane-wave electromagnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates the classical motion of charged particles with magnetic moments in external plane-wave electromagnetic fields, incorporating spin effects and comparing classical and quantum dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a covariant approach unifying Gilbertian and Amperian descriptions of magnetic moments and analyzes the Stern-Gerlach force's impact on particle trajectories.

Findings

Stern-Gerlach force can cumulatively influence particle trajectories.

Classical dynamics align with the relativistic quantum limit for current loop models.

Spin effects are significant in the motion of charged particles in laser fields.

Abstract

We study the motion of a charged particle with magnetic moment in external electromagnetic fields utilizing covariant unification of Gilbertian and Amperian descriptions of particle magnetic dipole moment. Considering the case of a current loop, our approach is verified by comparing classical dynamics with the classical limit of relativistic quantum dynamics. We obtain motion of a charged particle in the presence of an external linearly polarized EM (laser) plane wave field incorporating the effect of spin dynamics. For specific laser-particle initial configurations, we determine that the Stern-Gerlach force can have a cumulative effect on the trajectory of charged particles.