Slow plasma waves in a fine-stratified periodic semiconductor structure

A study is made of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in an infinite fine-stratified periodic structure composed of alternating layers of two different semiconductors. Such a periodic structure, which can be treated as a uniform uniaxial semiconductor with two different values of the dielectric constant, has four characteristic frequencies: two plasma frequencies of the layers and two hybrid frequencies, which are determined by the parameters of the layers. These frequencies govern the dispersion properties of the eigenwaves of the semiconductor structure. The effect of the dissipative processes on the wave dispersion is considered, and the dependence of the minimum phase velocity on the thickness of the layers and on the collision frequency between charge carriers within them is determined.