Oblique Reflection of Solitons in an Inhomogeneous Plasma: Effect of Trapped Electrons

Abstract

This paper aims at studying the oblique reflection of solitons in an inhomogeneous plasma having finite-temperature ions and trapped electrons (two-temperature nonisothermal electrons). In order to study the soliton reflection, a coupled equation is derived based on modified Korteweg-deVries equations for the incident and reflected solitons, and then, it is solved along with the use of incident soliton solution. The expressions for the reflected soliton amplitude, width, and reflection coefficient are obtained and examined for different parameter regimes. The reflection coefficient, which is the ratio of reflected and incident soliton amplitudes, is found to be independent of the ion and electron temperatures. It infers that both the amplitudes change in the same proportion with the ion and electron temperatures. It is observed that the soliton reflects with higher amplitude when the obliqueness is smaller. It is also seen that the reflected soliton undergoes a downshift in its original line of propagation. This downshift is further investigated in detail. The effect of the trapped electrons on the soliton reflection characteristics and on the downshift is also analyzed.