Radiation pressure response of a left-handed plasmonic metamaterial

The phenomenon of radiation pressure was first predicted by Maxwell in the late 1800s as a natural consequence of the energy and momentum content of electromagnetic waves. By the early 1900s, radiation pressure was measured by observing the light-driven deflection of mirrors suspended in vacuum. Due to co-linear propagation of electromagnetic energy and momentum in vacuum and nearly all naturally occurring materials, the canonical direction of radiation pressure is in the direction of light propagation. That is, light tends to push, rather than pull. In 1968, Veselago predicted that a mirror immersed in a hypothetical left-handed medium would experience negative radiation pressure, a unique situation where light would pull, rather than push. This was the consequence of contra-directional energy and momentum flow characteristic of electromagnetic waves in left-handed media.