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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
Conservation of angular momentum of light in single scattering
Abstract:
In this paper we discuss the conservation of angular momentum of light in single scattering of circularly polarized light from a spherical, non-absorbing particle. We show that the angular momentum carried by the incident wave is distributed in the scattered waves between terms related to polarization or spin and to orbital angular momentum, respectively. We also show that, in all scattering directions, a constant ratio exists between the flux density of the total angular momentum and the intensity.
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