Spectrum of plasma oscillations in structures with a periodically inhomogeneous two-dimensional electron plasma

We develop a rigorous electrodynamic theory of plasma oscillations in a periodically inhomogeneous two-dimensional electron system with a rectangular profile of the spatial modulation of the equilibrium electron concentration. We calculate the frequencies and radiative damping of the main plasma-oscillation types with a zero reduced wave vector. We show that the frequency splitting and the radiative damping of the oscillations are nonmonotonic functions of the modulation percentage and the ratio of the widths of the bands of two-dimensional plasma with low and high electron concentrations. The results of calculations are compared with experimental data and with the results of a perturbation theory developed in earlier work of other researchers. We discuss the physical mechanism for the emergence of radiative damping of plasma oscillations. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7761(98)01603-5].