Wakefield Formation by a Short Electron Beam in Quantum Nanowires
The basic properties of classical and quantum plasmas are discussed. Quantum plasmas behave differently due to high densities and low temperatures at nanometer scale in contrast to classical ones which are characterized by low densities and high temperatures. A literature survey is made to investigate the plasma phenomenon with quantum mechanical effects. Classical and quantum viewpoints are also presented to understand the free electron gas in metals. In particular, the excitation of stable plasmon wakefield is studied due to a short electron pulse propagating in axial direction of nanowire. The latter contains degenerate electrons and classical static ions. By using the Trivelpiece-Gould configuration and Fourier transform techniques, a general dispersion is obtained for the electrostatic plasmons and analyzed numerically. Nevertheless, an evolution equation for the wakefield is derived and carried out the stability analysis. In a gold nanowire, the amplitudes of wakefield become significantly modified by the variation of quantum diffraction, quantum exchange-correlations and mode quantization in the radial direction. The present findings may prove useful for investigating new radiation sources in the extreme-ultraviolet range.