In the present investigation, ion-acoustic double layers in an inhomogeneous plasma consisting of Maxwellian and non-thermal distributions of electrons are studied.We have derived a modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) equation for ion-acoustic double layers propagating in a collisionless inhomogeneous plasma. It is observed that the non-thermal parameters affect the amplitude and width of the double layer which further depend on the density.

In the present research paper, propagation attributes of nonlinear electron-acoustic (EA) waves have been investigated in an unmagnetised plasma system consisting of cool fluid electrons and hot electrons observing the hybrid Cairns–Tsallis distribution. Sagdeev pseudopotential method has been used to explore the occurrence of large-amplitude solitons and double layers, focussing on how their characteristics depend upon different parameters. The analysis is further extended to examine the dynamics of large- and small-amplitude double layers. It is revealed that the present plasma system supports the existence of negative potential solitons and double layers in certain region of parameter space. The numerical results show that the Cairns–Tsallis-distributed hot electrons may affect the spatial profiles of EA waves and double layers. The present investigation may be relevant to the observation from Viking satellite in the dayside auroral zone.

In the present investigation, authors have studied the linear mode structure of electron-acoustic waves, their modulational instability and rogue wave profiles in four-component plasma system consisting of stationary ions, cold electron fluid, Tsallis-distributed hot electrons and an electron beam. By applying standard perturbation method to the fluid equations, the dispersion relation is obtained that depends on various parameters such as beam density, beam velocity, beam temperature and non-extensivity $q$. Based on the phase velocities, two electron-acoustic (EA) modes known as slow and fast, have been extracted as real modes for which a detailed analysis is presented. Further, the basic set of equations is reduced to nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE), where the nonlinearity and dispersion coefficients compete and significantly affect the stability characteristics of EA waves. For both the modes, a comprehensive study of modulational instability and rogue wave profile has been carried out by taking into consideration the effect of non-extensivity and beam velocity. The obtained results have been compared with other research works. The present investigation may be relevant to the observation from Viking satellite in the day-side auroral zone.