DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF LASER MOMENTUM-TRANSFER TO DENSE MEDIA BY MEANSOF ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY CANTILEVERS

Various Gedanken experiments have been proposed in the past to test th e expression for the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor in a mater ial medium and hence the ratio of the momentum to the energy carried b y the electromagnetic wave in a dielectric medium. We suggest a real e xperiment, based on the use of atomic force microscopy microcantilever s. We discuss thr phenomenological theoretical framework and the feasi bility of our proposal, We report preliminary experimental results obt ained in air and water to test the performance of our setup. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.