Electron-acoustic waves in the laboratory: an experiment revisited

High-frequency electrostatic waves have been observed in a two-electron-temperature plasma. Both bi-Maxwellian and Maxwellian-waterbag models were found to be inadequate in explaining the observed dispersion and damping rates. However, modeling of the hot electron component with a k-distribution function confirms that the experiments represent observation of the electron-acoustic wave in the laboratory.