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Cherenkov radiation across different spectral ranges is now an important tool for investigations in experimental radiation physics, charged particle beam diagnostics, nuclear energy and astrophysics. Since the early 2000s, renewed interest in this phenomenon has emerged, driven by advances in metamaterials and photonic crystals – artificial structures with tailored, nontrivial electromagnetic properties that enable substantial modification of radiation characteristics.
This report presents a theoretical and experimental study of a specific mechanism – Cherenkov diffraction radiation (ChDR) – conducted at Tomsk Polytechnic University over the past two decades. The research focuses on radiation arising when a moderately relativistic charged particle flies near a finite‑sized dielectric radiator, under the condition that the distance between the particle’s trajectory and the radiator is comparable to the effective radius of the Coulomb field of the passing charge. The physical mechanism is based on dynamic polarization of the electron shells of the radiator’s atoms induced by the charge’s field.
We investigated ChDR process in GHz and sub-THz range using 6.1 MeV electron beam of the TPU microtron, but the developed theoretical model allows modelling of ChDR characteristics with photon energies down to soft X-rays.
The work demonstrates practical applications of Cherenkov diffraction radiation for non-perturbing diagnostics of charged particle beams at modern accelerators and for generation of quasi‑monochromatic radiation in the GHz and THz frequency ranges.
This research was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, project No. FSWW-2026-0046.