The experimental observation of Peregrine solitons in a multicomponent plasma with the critical concentration of negative ions is reported. A slowly amplitude modulated perturbation undergoes self-modulation and gives rise to a high amplitude localized pulse. The measured amplitude of the Peregrine soliton is 3 times the nearby carrier wave amplitude, which agrees with the theory. The numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is compared with the experimental results.

• Received 29 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.255005