Amplification of surface plasmon polaritons in the HTSC film–dielectric structure

Abstract

Specific features of the surface polariton propagation in a vacuum–HTSC–dielectric asymmetric waveguide structure are considered in the temperature region T < Tc/2, where the structure can be treated as nonabsorbing. The possibility of amplifying surface plasmon polaritons due to pumping the energy from the drift current wave in a superconductor to a surface terahertz range wave propagating along the HTSC–dielectric interfaces is studied. It is shown that the wave can efficiently interact with the flux of charged particles in the region of the considerable deceleration of polariton waves. In this region, the amplification coefficient can reach very large values considerably exceeding the damping factor.