Transverse spin and transverse momentum in scattering of plane waves

Abstract

We study the near field to the far field evolution of spin angular momentum (SAM) density and the Poynting vector of the scattered waves from spherical scatterers. The results show that at the near field, the SAM density and the Poynting vector are dominated by their transverse components. While the former (transverse SAM) is independent of the helicity of the incident circular polarization state, the latter (transverse Poynting vector) depends upon the polarization state. It is further demonstrated that the interference of the transverse electric and transverse magnetic scattering modes enhances both the magnitudes and the spatial extent of the transverse SAM and the transverse momentum components.