Collapse of nonlinear electron plasma waves in a plasma layer

Abstract

The excitation of nonlinear electron plasma waves in the plasma layer is investigated theoretically. This excitation is realized by means of initial oscillatory perturbations of the volume electron concentration or by initial oscillatory distributions of the longitudinal electron velocity. The amplitudes of the initial perturbations are small and the manifestation of the volume nonlinearity is absent. When the amplitudes of the initial perturbations exceed some thresholds, the values of the electron concentration near the plasma boundary increase catastrophically. The maxima of the electron concentration reach extremely high magnitudes, and sharp peaks in the electron concentration occur, which are localized both in the longitudinal and transverse directions. This effect is interpreted as wave collapse near the plasma boundary.