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Free keywords:
ELECTROMAGNETIC-FIELDS; POLARIZATIONOptics; Poynting; polarization; spin; energy flux; momentum; nonparaxial;
Abstract:
In the helicity representation, the Poynting vector (current) for a monochromatic optical field, when calculated using either the electric or the magnetic field, separates into right-handed and left-handed contributions, with no cross-helicity contributions. Cross-helicity terms do appear in the orbital and spin contributions to the current. But when the electric and magnetic formulas are averaged ('electric-magnetic democracy'), these terms cancel, restoring the separation into right-handed and left-handed currents for orbital and spin separately.
