Almut Beige

One of the most surprising findings of quantum physics is wave-particle duality. However, having a closer look at our theories, we see that do not really use the same formalism to describe photons and quantum mechanical particles. To increase wave-particle duality, we recently introduced a local photon approach [1] which allows us to design locally acting mirror Hamiltonians. Our approach also allows us to define the momentum of light as in quantum mechanics as the generator for spatial translation. When analysing the momentum dynamics of photonic wave packets which transition from air into a dielectric medium, we gain new insight into the Abraham-Minkowski controversy [2]. Although our results align with Minkowski’s theory, there are also some crucial differences.

[1] D. Hodgson, J. Southall, R. Purdy, and A. Beige,  Local photons, Front. Photon. 3, 978855 (2022).

[2] G. Waite, D. Hodgson, B. Lang, V. Alapatt and A. Beige, A local photon perspective on the momentum of light, Phys. Rev. A 111, 023703 (2025).