Modulational Collapsing and Adjusting with External Potential in a Complex Nonlinear Plasma

Abstract

Modulational collapse of a wave pulse in a complex nonlinear plasma described by a complex nonlinear Schrodinger equation (CNSE) including the effects of viscous heating and nonlinear damping, and the adjusting by an external potential are investigated. Theoretical and numerical results reveal that the original pulse first suffers modulational instability, the growth rate of the modulational instability increases with the increase of viscous heating, but it is not sensitive to the nonlinear damping. The instability induces the self-similar collapsing, then the fields rapidly transform into a turbulent state with short-wavelength modes. The results are explained in terms of the evolution of the total energy, which can become invariant during the evolution even though the system is nonconservative. The external potential can delay the self-defocusing process of the pulse. Those results can apply to the phenomena described by the CNSE.