We uncover the existence of a universal phenomenon concerning the electromagnetic optical force exerted by light or other electromagnetic waves on a distribution of charges and currents in general, and of particles in particular. This conveys the appearence of underlying reactive quantities that hinder radiation pressure and currently observed time-averaged forces. This constitutes a novel paradigm of the mechanical efficiency of light on matter, and completes the landscape of the optical, and generally electromagnetic, force in photonics and classical electrodynamics; widening our understanding in the design of both illumination and particles in optical manipulation without the need of increasing the illuminating power, and thus lowering dissipation and heating. We show that this may be accomplished through the minimization of what we establish as the reactive strength of orbital (or canonical) momentum, which plays against the optical force a role analogous to that of the reactive power versus the radiation efficiency of an antenna. This long time overlooked quantity, important for current progress of optical manipulation, and that stems from the complex Maxwell theorem of conservation of complex momentum that we put forward, as well as its alternating flow associated to the imaginary part of the complex Maxwell stress tensor, conform the imaginary Lorentz force that we introduce in this work, and that like the reactive strength of orbital momentum, is antagonistic to the well-known time-averaged force; thus making this reactive Lorentz force indirectly observable near wavelengths at which the time-averaged force is lowered. The Minkowski and Abraham momenta are also addressed.

我们揭示了一种普遍现象的存在，这种现象涉及光或其他电磁波对电荷和电流的分布，特别是粒子的分布施加的电磁光学力。这传达了阻碍辐射压力和当前观察到的时间平均力的潜在反应量的出现。这构成了光对物质的机械效率的新范式，并完成了光子学和经典电动力学中的光学和一般电磁力的景观；扩大我们对光学操纵中照明和粒子设计的理解，而无需增加照明功率，从而降低耗散和发热。我们表明，这可以通过最小化我们建立的轨道（或规范）动量的反应强度来实现，它对光学力的作用类似于无功功率与天线辐射效率的关系。这个长期被忽视的量，对当前光学操纵的进展很重要，它源于我们提出的复动量守恒的复麦克斯韦定理，以及与复麦克斯韦应力张量的虚部相关的交变流，符合我们在这项工作中引入的假想洛伦兹力，并且与轨道动量的反应强度一样，与众所周知的时间平均力相反；因此，这种反应洛伦兹力可以在时间平均力降低的波长附近间接观察到。闵可夫斯基和亚伯拉罕动量也得到了解决。