Relaxation effect of electron inertial delay in an ion-beam plasma system

In this article an interesting result has been reported to highlight the ph ysical implication of finite nonzero electron inertial delay in acoustic os cillations of an ion-beam plasma system. A simple fluid model has been used to demonstrate the excitation of relaxation type resonant instability on t he electron inertial delay time scale. Physical arguments have been include d to understand and explain the driving mechanism of the instability and it s utility to comprehend the ion-beam driven oscillations in plasma sheath e xperiments. The physical nature and origin of the potential relaxation inst ability has been correlated to the electron inertial delay effect in the io n current carrying plasma system. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.