Excitations of wave modes and energy loss by a charged particle passing through a plasma sheet

Expressions are presented for the field components due to a charged particle passing across a dielectric layer surrounded by the media of different dielectric constants. The case of a cold plasma sheet is discussed in detail. The energy loss due to the space-wave part of the transition radiation has been reported in a previous paper. In the present paper, the energy loss due to the excitation of surface wave modes is considered. For the large thickness, the energy is lost through the surface wave mode which propagates for frequencies less than ωp/√2. However, for thin sheets, two modes are excited in which the radial wave number depends upon the thickness of the plasma sheet. The power flow per unit angular frequency along the radial direction is calculated for both the thick and thin plasma sheet. The contribution of the particle velocity, the layer thickness, and the frequency on the power flow per unit frequency is investigated in detail.