Electron beam excitation of left-handed surface electromagnetic waves at artificial interfaces

In this Brief Report we present the theoretical analysis of excitation of the surface plasmon polaritons by a thin electron beam propagating in the vacuum gap separating a plasmalike medium (metal) from an artificial dielectric with negative magnetic permeability. We have obtained and discussed the dispersion relation for the vacuum-gap-localized waves for an arbitrary vacuum-gap width. We have shown that the interface-localized waves with the negative total energy flux can be excited.