Self-consistent expansion of a multicomponent plasma into a vacuum

The problem of the one-dimensional collisionless expansion of a multicomponent plasma into a vacuum is considered. In the hydrodynamic approximation, an approximate analytical solution for an arbitrary set of ion species with masses $M_1, \dots, M_n$ and charge numbers $Z_1 e, Z_2 e, \dots, Z_n e$ is found by using the technique of self-similar variables employed by Gurevich, Pariiskaya, and Pitaevskii for the case of single-species ions. A numerical iterative algorithm is developed in which the analytical solution is used as a first approximation.