Transition radiation of a charge in a thin inhomogeneous plasma layer

Abstract

The authors study the resonant transition radiation of a uniformly moving charge in a thin parabolic plasma layer; the transition radiation is caused by the presence of plasma resonance near the extremum of concentration. It is shown that, in a narrow frequency interval near the maximum plasma frequency of the layer, the spectral energy density of the extremal resonant transition radiation exceeds considerably the energy density of radiation, although the total energies of transition radiation are, in both cases, close in magnitude. We consider the possibilities of using this effect for the diagnostics of inhomogeneous plasma.