Experimental and simulation studies on soliton generation in a double-plasma device: role of fast ions

Soliton generation mechanism in a double-plasma device is explored by carrying out diagnostics measurements using a Langmuir probe and laser induced fluorescence. Soliton profiles are investigated for different amplitudes, durations and frequencies of the applied grid signal. Particle-in-cell simulations are also carried out in order to study in detail the evolution and propagation mechanism of solitons. For low temperature ions, the simulation results show similar features as observed in the experiment. However, the simulations with fast ions having larger velocities than the soliton show strong interaction of the fast ions with the soliton and ion burst, producing another soliton through the energy exchange mechanism.