Finite-amplitude ion-acoustic solitons in weakly inhomogeneous plasmas

The properties of an ion-acoustic soliton in a weakly inhomogeneous plasma are studied. Unlike previous analyses, the soliton amplitude is not required to be small. The ion generation rate is assumed to be either proportional to the electron density or to be uniform. Assuming that the local soliton width is small compared with the scale length of the plasma inhomogeneity, a perturbation theory is developed which gives the local speed and amplitude of the soliton. For a small amplitude soliton, simple expressions for the local soliton speed, peak soliton potential, and peak soliton ion density are derived. It is shown that both the soliton velocity relative to the ion drift velocity and the peak soliton potential do not vary greatly as the soliton moves from the plasma center toward the sheath. The peak ion density, however, varies over a wider range. These results are shown to agree with those from direct numerical integration of the basic equations.