Features of Nondissipative Channeling of Moving Particles Near a Conductor with Current

Abstract

The specific features of free (outside a conductor) motion of charged particles in the field of a vector potential produced by a direct current flowing in a cylindrical or a flat conductor are considered. It is shown that when particles with negative charge move along the current direction (as well as when positively charged particles move in the opposite direction), the process of interaction of charges with the vector potential of the current corresponds to the presence of a very deep potential well whose minimum lies outside the conductor. This position of the minimum of the potential well corresponds to the flow of a current whose strength does not exceed several kiloamperes for electrons and positrons and several tens of kiloamperes for protons. When these values are exceeded, the minimum shifts into the bulk of the conductor. When the current decreases or the longitudinal energy of a particle increases, the position of the minimum varies in the range from near the surface of the conductor to values that are many tens of times greater than the thickness (diameter) of the conductor. The depth of the potential well increases with increasing energy of a particle and may reach tens and hundreds of kiloelectronvolts even for nonrelativistic particles. The structure of the potential well near the surface of a flat conductor with current corresponds to a harmonic oscillator whose frequency depends on the current strength, the thickness of the flat conductor, and the particle energy. The presence of such features makes it possible to implement a nondissipative channeling regime outside the conductor and the transportation of particles over a long distance.