FIZIKA A 12 (2003) 3 , 127 - 142

MODULATION INSTABILITY OF HIGH-FREQUENCY SURFACE WAVES
AT A PLASMA - VACUUM INTERFACE

BASUDEV GHOSH^a, SHYAMAL R. MAJUMDAR^b, SUJAY K. BHATTACHARYA^c and SAILENDRA N. PAUL^d,1

^aDepartment of Physics, R. K. Mission Vidyamandir, Belur Math,
Howrah, Pin - 711202, India
^bDepartment of Physics, B. N. Mahavidyalaya, P. O. Itachuna, Dist. Hooghly,
West Bengal, India
^cDepartment of Physics, M. N. Saha Institute of Technology Near NRI Complex,
Kolkata - 700039, India
^dCentre for Science Education and Research B/4, Shyamali Housing Estate,
Salt Lake City, Calcutta - 700064, India
¹E-mail address: sailenpaul@rediffmail.com

Received 18 January 2003;  revised manuscript received 1 October 2003
Accepted 15 December 2003  Online 19 April 2004

Nonlinear propagation of surface waves in a cold electron-plasma half-space is theoretically investigated by using the method of multiple scale. It is shown that high-frequency surface waves are modulationally unstable at a plasma - vacuum interface. The growth of the modulational instability of the surface waves is discussed. It is also shown that the electric field associated with a finite amplitude surface wave can take the form of an envelope soliton which propagates along the plasma - vacuum interface with a velocity independent of the soliton height.

PACS numbers: 52.35.Mw, 52.35.-g, 52.35.Sb
UDC 531.742

Keywords: cold electron plasma, plasma - vacuum interface, surface waves, nonlinear propagation, modulational instability

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