Observation of double pseudowaves in an ion–beam–plasma system

Abstract

Pseudowaves, known as burst-ion signals, which are different from plasma normal modes, exist frequently in ionwave excitation experiments when launching the waves by applying a pulsed voltage to a negatively biased grid. In previous experiments, only one kind of the pseudowave was observed. In this paper, we report the observation and identification of double pseudowaves in an ion-beam-plasma system. These pseudowaves originate from two ion groups: the burst of the beam ions and the burst of the background ions. It was observed that the burst of the background ions was in the case of high ion beam energy, while the burst of the beam ions was in the case of low ion beam energy. By observing the dependence of the signal velocities on the characteristics of the excitation voltage, these pseudowaves can be identified. It was also observed that the burst ion signal originating from the background ions can interact with slow beam mode and that originating from the beam ions can interact with fast beam mode.