On the Reflection of Ion-Acoustic Solitons from a Bipolar Potential Structure

A potential structure consisting of a negatively biased screen placed in front of a positively biased plate and inserted in the target chamber of a double-plasma machine is shown to be a reflector of ion-acoustic solitons. A simple model is proposed to explain the reflection mechanism pioneered by Popa and Oertl. This structure is also an efficient launcher of ion-acoustic waves.