Arbitrary amplitude dust-acoustic double layers in a non-thermal plasma

Abstract

The existence of large-amplitude dust-acoustic double layers is investigated in an unmagnetized dusty plasma comprising a negatively charged warm dust fluid, non-thermal ions and Boltzmann electrons. It is found that the non-thermal plasma supports the existence of rarefactive double layers only. The dependence of the double-layer amplitude and Mach number on various parameters such as the non-thermal parameter, dust temperature and electron concentration is numerically examined.