Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2009
We have investigated how the presence of an electromagnetic beam and a static magnetic field influences the ion-acoustic solitons in a plasma. A modified KdV equation is derived in which the electromagnetic field plays the role of a source term. By using the perturbation analysis technique, it is shown that a homogeneous electromagnetic beam does not destabilize the ion-acoustic solitons; it reduces the amplitude, but not the velocity, of the solitons. However, any inhomogeneity in the electromagnetic field intensity does destabilize the ion-acoustic solitons; albeit not to an appreciable extent for typical cases.