Condensation of plasmon-polaritons in dispersive carbon nanotubes assisted by a fast charge

Abstract

Capturing the energy of fast charged particles by nanostructures opens up access to new affordable and environmentally friendly solutions in the field of energy. However, the condition for this (Cherenkov emission) in dispersionless media is attainable only for very fast particles. We propose to use for this purpose the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons in a three-dimensional (3D) array of dispersive carbon nanotubes (CNTs) assisted by a fast charge. In such a dispersive system, the radiation occurs even if the particle speed is less than the speed of light in the material (E.Fermi). The inclusion of an array of CNTs leads to that such a composite system becomes spatially inhomogeneous, which significantly modifies the field dynamics. Our numerical 3D modeling shows that the properties of the field created in such a composite drastically depend on the value of the plasma frequency ω p of carbon nanotubes. Local short-wave fields of plasmon-polaritons arise here already in the subcritical region. At large ω p , the reconnection of local fields leads to transition in a delocalized state (plasmonpolaritons condensate), when collective field oscillations occupy macroscopicaly large region of the CNT and the inverse partisipation ratio attains a minimum. This effect can find interesting applications in modern 'laboratory-on-a-chip' technologies for capturing and accumulation of the pure energy of fast particles by plasmon-polaritons of carbon nanostructures.