Photon-Pressure Nudge
Estimate ideal photon-pressure force, impulse, and target velocity change.
Description
Ideal photon-pressure force transfers momentum from incident power, with reflectivity increasing the force.
Ideal photon-pressure force transfers momentum from incident power, with reflectivity increasing the force. Unreflected power is treated as absorbed.1
Estimate ideal photon-pressure force, impulse, and target velocity change.
When to use Photon-Pressure Nudge
Use this tool to estimate ideal photon-pressure force, impulse, and target velocity change.
Prepare the optical measurements, geometry, fitted coefficients or caller-selected thresholds requested. Confirm wavelength, radius/diameter, pulse-width, angle and unit conventions before running the calculation.
How to use Photon-Pressure Nudge and understand its results
- Prepare the optical measurements, geometry, fitted coefficients or caller-selected thresholds requested. Confirm wavelength, radius/diameter, pulse-width, angle and unit conventions before running the calculation.
- Enter opticalPowerWatts, reflectivity, illuminationSeconds, targetMassKilograms using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
- Read radiationPressureForceNewtons, impulseNewtonSeconds, velocityChangeMetersPerSecond. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
- If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.
| Input field | Meaning | Value type; see rules below | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| opticalPowerWatts | Incident optical power (W) | number; minimum: 0 | Required |
| reflectivity | Target reflectivity | number; minimum: 0; maximum: 1 | Required |
| illuminationSeconds | Illumination duration (s) | number; minimum: 0 | Required |
| targetMassKilograms | Target mass (kg) | number; minimum: 0 | Required |
Enter nonnegative power/time, reflectivity from zero to one and positive mass. Return force, impulse and velocity change in SI units.
force=(1+R)P/c; impulse=force×time; velocityChange=impulse/mass Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.
| Output field | Meaning | Value type |
|---|---|---|
| radiationPressureForceNewtons | Radiation-pressure force (N) | number; minimum: 0 |
| impulseNewtonSeconds | Delivered impulse (N·s) | number; minimum: 0 |
| velocityChangeMetersPerSecond | Velocity change (m/s) | number; minimum: 0 |
{
"input": {
"opticalPowerWatts": 1000,
"reflectivity": 1,
"illuminationSeconds": 10,
"targetMassKilograms": 100
},
"output": {
"radiationPressureForceNewtons": 0.000006671281903963041,
"impulseNewtonSeconds": 0.00006671281903963041,
"velocityChangeMetersPerSecond": 6.671281903963041e-7
}
}Limitations and assumptions
Transmission, incidence angle, heating, recoil geometry and changing target mass are excluded.
Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Use Optical-Tweezer Force: Estimate optical-tweezer gradient force using a caller-supplied trapping efficiency. For a complementary task, use Power-Beaming Efficiency: Calculate end-to-end optical power-beaming efficiency and power loss.
References
-
Photon-Pressure Nudge — tool.io
Similar or alternative tools
- Optical-Tweezer Force
Estimate optical-tweezer gradient force using a caller-supplied trapping efficiency.
- Power-Beaming Efficiency
Calculate end-to-end optical power-beaming efficiency and power loss.