Electrodynamics of a layered electron gas. I. Single layer

Abstract The electrodynamics of a compressible charged layer placed in a uniform rigid neutralizing background is studied with a hydrodynamic description. The resulting plasma oscillations and screening differ considerably from those in bulk media. The induced charge density and scalar potential are evaluated both for a harmonic perturbation and for a uniformly moving charge, which also yields the corresponding power loss of the test charge. Retardation is shown to be significant only at long wavelengths, where other effects (for example, the presence of adjacent layers) are likely to predominate.