Plasmon Excitation and Transition Radiation in Graphene Traversed by a Fast Charged Particle

Abstract

A progress report is presented on recent theoretical investigations of the interaction of fast charged particles with single and multiple graphene layers. By adopting a fully relativistic formulation of the problem, special focus is placed on retardation effects in the energy loss of a charged particle due to electronic excitations in graphene, which include its plasmon polariton modes, as well as the energy that is emitted from graphene in the form of transition radiation. Using both empirical and ab initio models for the dynamic in-plane conductivity of graphene allows the exploration of energy losses at frequencies ranging from the terahertz to the ultraviolet.