Ion-acoustic waves in a nonstationary ultra-cold neutral plasma

Abstract

We consider the excitation and dispersion of electrostatic ion-acoustic (IA) waves in a nonstationary ultra-cold neutral plasma (UCNP). This can be seen as an extension of time-refraction models of photons and plasmons to the case of low-frequency IA waves in the UCNP. It is shown that temporal changes in the medium lead to a frequency-shift of the IA wave, and to the emission of the IA waves propagating in a direction opposite to each other. We consider an arbitrary temporal variation of the background plasma density, and determine the transmission and reflection coefficients. We also consider the influence of a fast ionization process, assumed inhomogeneous in volume and show that it excites a well-defined spectrum of ion-acoustic waves, which agree very well with a recent experimental observation. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.