Abstract
The effect of oblique modulation on the amplitude dynamics of ion-acoustic wave propagating in a collisionless electron-positron-ion plasma is investigated. Using Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolsky (KBM) perturbation method, a nonlinear Schroumldinger (NLS) equation is derived which governs the evolution of obliquely modulated ion-acoustic envelope excitations. It is found that the presence of positron component significantly modifies the stability domains for small angles of propagation with the direction of modulation. The stationary solutions of NLS equation, i.e., bright and dark envelope solitons, become narrower as the concentration of positron component increases.