Strong Energy Dependent Transition Radiation in a Photonic Crystal

TL;DR

This paper investigates energy-dependent transition radiation in photonic crystals, revealing exact solutions for certain stack configurations, strong energy dependence of radiation intensity, and potential applications in relativistic particle detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of transition radiation in disordered and periodic stacks, showing exact solutions and identifying a strong energy dependence similar to Dirac cone behavior.

Findings

Radiation intensity scales as N^2 in special disordered stacks.

Energy dependence of radiation intensity follows an E^4 law at Brewster's angle.

Photonic crystal band structure exhibits Dirac cone-like behavior.

Abstract

Radiation of a charged particle crossing an alternating stack of slabs in the optical region is considered. Both disordered and periodic stacks are investigated. It is shown that for special type of alternating disordered and periodic stacks the radiation problem can be solved exactly for backward and forward Brewster observation angles. Strong $N^2$ dependence of radiation intensity on slab number is re-established in special case of the disordered stack. This leads to strong directivity either on forward or on backward Brewster angles depending on the type of stack randomness. In certain type of periodic photonic crystal, a strong energy dependence $E^4$ for relativistic particles of the radiation intensity, observed at Brewster's angle is found. Further increment of particle energy leads to saturation. The band structure of the corresponding photonic crystal (PhC) has a behavior, analogous to the Dirac cones in graphene. We suggest this special type $1D$ photonic crystal for application as a detector of relativistic particles.