Cerenkov radiation in metallic metamaterials

The electromagnetic response of a metallic metamaterial to fast-moving electrons is studied by numerical simulations. The considered metamaterial is a one-dimensional array of slits perforated on a metallic film and is found to generate Cerenkov wakes when the electron beam travels near its surface. There is no energy threshold for the generation of such wakes, which would be promising to lower the operation energy of the electron beam in compact Cerenkov free-electron-lasers. Moreover, by analyzing the spectral dependence of the Cerenkov light, it is possible to map the dispersion relation of the guided modes supported by the metamaterial