Cherenkov radiation at speeds below the light threshold: phonon-assisted phase matching.
Charged particles traveling through matter at speeds larger than the phase velocity of light in the medium emit Cherenkov radiation. Calculations reveal that a given angle of the radiation conical wavefront is associated with two velocities, one above and one below a certain speed threshold. Emission at subluminal but not superluminal speeds is predicted and verified experimentally for relativistic dipoles generated with an optical method based on subpicosecond pulses moving in a nonlinear medium. The dipolar Cherenkov field, in the range of infrared-active phonons, is identical to that of phonon polaritons produced by impulsive laser excitation.
Stevens
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TE
The Harrison M. Randall Laboratory of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1120, USA.
Wahlstrand
J K
JK
Kuhl
J
J
Merlin
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R