Terahertz transition radiation of bulk and surface electromagnetic waves by an electron entering a layered superconductor

Abstract

We theoretically study the transition radiation of bulk and surface electromagnetic waves by an electron crossing an interface between a layered superconductor and an isotropic dielectric. We assume that the direction of the electron motion and the orientation of the superconducting layers are perpendicular to the interface. We derive the analytical expressions for the strongly anisotropic radiation fields and for the time-integrated energy fluxes of bulk and oblique surface electromagnetic waves (OSWs). We show that the OSWs with frequencies close to the Josephson plasma frequency ωJ provide the main contribution to the OSWs energy flux. Moreover, for frequencies close to the Josephson plasma frequency, the spectral density of the OSWs radiation diverges at some critical value of the azimuth angle ϕ. At the angles ϕ = 0 and ϕ = 90 o , the radiation field has a transverse magnetic polarization. We have also studied the Cherenkov radiation by the electron escaping from the layered superconductor and show that this radiation is almost monochromatic. A remarkable feature of the Cherenkov radiation in a layered superconductor is that, contrary to the isotropic case, the Cherenkov radiation distinctly manifests itself in the angular dependence of the radiation energy flux.