Ion sound wave excitation in a plasma under a Langmuir turbulence regime

Ion sound wave excitation in a warm non-relativistic (W-b less than or equal to 400 eV) electron beam unmagnetized plasma system is studied experimentally. The spectrum of these waves shows two peaks at frequencies of 70 and 230 kHz respectively. The origin of these waves is connected with modulational instability and cavity collapse. We show that the energy of bulk accelerated electrons can explain the measured value of kr(De) for high-frequency sound waves. The energy of ion sound waves is not high enough to have an influence on the Langmuir turbulence dynamics. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.