Nonlinear interaction between surface plasmons and ion oscillations in a semi-bounded collisional quantum plasma

In this paper, we have investigated the nonlinear interaction between high-frequency surface plasmons and low-frequency ion oscillations in a semi-bounded collisional quantum plasma. By coupling the nonlinear Schrodinger equation and quantum hydrodynamic model, and taking into account the ponderomotive force, the dispersion equation is obtained. By solving this equation, it is shown that there is a modulational instability in the system, and collisions and quantum forces play significant roles on this instability. The quantum tunneling increases the phase and group velocities of the modulated waves and collisions increase the growth rate of the modulational instability. It is also shown that the effect of quantum forces and collisions is more significant in high modulated wavenumber regions. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.