Nonlinear modulation of transverse dust lattice waves in complex plasma crystals

The occurrence of nonlinear modulation of tranverse dust lattice waves propagating in a one-dimensional plasma crystal was studied. It was demonstrated that the modulation instability was possible for transverse dust contaminated plasma (DP) lattice waves. It was shown that the amplitude modulation mechanism, which was related to the intrinsic nonlinearity of the sheath electric field, destabilized the carrier wave under certain conditions, leading to the formation of localized envelope excitations. Explicit expressions for the instability growth rate and threshold were also studied.SCOPUS: ar.j