DYNAMICAL IMAGE POTENTIAL AND INDUCED FORCES FOR CHARGED-PARTICLES MOVING PARALLEL TO A SOLID-SURFACE

The dynamical image potential and ensuing forces induced by a charged particle moving parallel to a solid surface are investigated by using a dielectric formulation for semi-infinite dispersive media. The adiabatic behavior of the field in the asymptotic range is discussed in a general way using a multipole expansion. Several calculations illustrate the behavior of the field using both a simple model, where the surface response is approximated by a single plasma resonance, and a more realistic representation of the medium based upon the empirical information on the optical constants for various solids (Al, Cu, Ag, and Au). The model parameters may be adjusted to provide very good agreement with the optical-data integrations of the stopping and lateral forces on the moving charge. On the other hand, important differences in the description of the wake potential using either the simple plasma resonance model, or the optical-data representation, are obtained for Cu, Ag, and Au.