REFLECTION OF ION-ACOUSTIC SOLITONS IN A PLASMA HAVING NEGATIVE-IONS

Reflection of compressive and rarefactive ion acoustic solitons propag ating in an inhomogeneous plasma in the presence of negative ions is i nvestigated. Modified Korteweg-de Vries equations for incident and ref lected solitons are derived and solved. The amplitude of incident and reflected solitons increases with negative to positive ion density rat io. With increasing density ratio, reflection of rarefactive solitons is reinforced whereas that of compressive solitons weakened. The raref active solitons are found to undergo stronger reflection than the comp ressive ones. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.