Ghost Matter

For the last century, the Abraham-Minkowski controversy has been at the centre of discussions in the field of photonics. It concerns the relationship between photon momentum in a dielectric media and the refractive index of the media. Both approaches have theoretical and experimental evidence backing them, but there is no consensus on which approach is 'right' or what each approach represents physically. This project sets out to provide new experimental evidence to the discussion around the Abraham-Minkowski controversy, using optical tweezing.

Optical tweezers are commonly used to hold and manipulate particles and microscopic materials which are either in a vacuum or immersed in a fluid. However, a new method has been proposed that would allow for the manipulation of microscopic pieces of semiconductor material within a solid medium such as glass. Not only does this have large implications for device manufacturing, but this method will also be used to accurately measure the photon momentum of light interacting with the semiconductor material.