Instability of the Shukla mode in a dusty plasma containing equilibrium density and magnetic field inhomogeneities

It is shown that the dispersive Shukla mode [P.K. Shukla, Phys. Lett. A 316, 238 (2003)] can become unstable in the presence of equilibrium density and magnetic field inhomogeneities in a dusty plasma. A new dispersion relation for our nonuniform dusty magnetoplasma is derived and analyzed to show the modification of the Shukla mode frequency and its amplification due to combined action of the plasma density and magnetic field gradients. The present instability may account for the origin of low-frequency electromagnetic turbulence in molecular clouds and in cometary plasmas.