Wavelet Bicoherence Analysis as a Method for Investigating Coherent Structures in an Electron Beam with an Overcritical Current

Results are presented from numerical modeling of the effect of the inhomogeneity of the ion background on the complicated spatiotemporal dynamics of an electron beam with a virtual cathode in plane geometry. The possibility is demonstrated of increasing the generation frequency without changing the beam current. The spatiotemporal structures that form in the beam and govern the complicated stochastic dynamics of the nonuniform electron-plasma system under consideration are investigated by the methods of wavelet bicoherence and by analyzing the calculated electron trajectories on the space–time diagrams.