Particular Features of a Vavilov-Cherenkov-Like Phenomenon with Emission of Surface Plasmons

摘要

We consider a phenomenon of the Vavilov-Cherenkov type that can be observed in a space with a metal-dielectric boundary that well reflects light. An electron that initially uniformly moves at a constant velocity near this boundary creates surface plasmon-polaritons the phase velocity of which is lower than the electron velocity. The momentum of a photon in the created plasmon-polariton is calculated. This momentum may be almost as high as the doubled initial electron momentum. The velocity of the electron that created the photon in the plasmon-polariton may also become almost zero. We show that, at a nonzero temperature, this process has a nonzero probability.