Abstract
Modulation instability of ion-acoustic waves is investigated in a plasma composed of positive and negative ions as well as nonthermal electrons. For this purpose, a linear dispersion relation and a nonlinear Schrödinger equation are derived. The latter admits localized envelope solitary wave solutions of bright-(pulses) and dark-(holes, voids) type. The envelope soliton depends on the intrinsic plasma parameters. It is found that modulation instability of ion-acoustic waves is significantly affected by the presence of nonthermal electrons. The present model is used to investigate the solitary excitations in the
(
H
+
,
O
2
−
)
and
(
H
+
,
H
−
)
plasmas, where they are presented in the D-region and F-region of the Earth's ionosphere. The findings of this investigation should be useful in understanding the stable electrostatic wave packet acceleration mechanisms in positive-negative ion plasmas, and also enhance our knowledge on the occurrence of instability associated to the propagation of the envelope ion-acoustic solitary waves in space and in laboratory plasmas where two distinct groups of ions and non-Boltzmann distributed electrons are present.