Ion- and electron-acoustic waves in sheet plasmas

Abstract

Ion-acoustic waves in sheet plasmas, which are of thickness of order of the ion Larmor radius ρi, have been investigated numerically. The frequency range considered is less than the ion cyclotron frequency ωci. An integral equation in wavenumber space is derived from the linearized Vlasov-Poisson equations and analysed numerically. Eigenfrequencies and eigenfunctions of the wave have been studied systematically by varying the plasma thickness, plasma density, electron-to-ion temperature ratio and parallel wavenumber. Electron-acoustic waves are found when the parallel wavenumber is very small (e.g. k∥ρi = 0·005) and the electron and ion temperatures are comparable.