In a double-plasma device with a negatively biased grid separating source and target chamber, the ion-acoustic instability is recorded during the injection of an ion beam whose velocity is chosen between the ion-acoustic velocity and twice this value. The observed broad power spectra of the density fluctuations are found to be related to a strong modulation of the frequency inside the bursts of unstable waves. This modulation is interpreted as being a consequence of the existence of propagating strongly nonlinear coherent structures that arise in the course of the nonlinear spatiotemporal evolution of the ion-acoustic instability.

• Received 27 October 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.7034