Excitation of surface plasmons in nanotubes

In this work, we describe the excitation of plasmons in nano-systems of cylindrical symmetry when charged particles impinge on them. In particular, we calculate the average number of plasmons excited by electrons in hollow, metallic tubules, using a Drude model to describe the dielectric function of the material. Based on previous results, which show the equivalence between quantum and classical descriptions of the phenomenon, we are able to evaluate in a simple manner the integrals along penetrating trajectories, perpendicular to the cylinder axis. We study the influence of various parameters on the excitation of the different modes available for such geometry, including the variation of the inner radius of the tube, and the impact parameter of the electron beam. We obtain similarities and differences with the already studied cases of solid wires, and hollow capillaries.