  A nonlinear model of modulational processes in the subsonic regime involving
a linearly unstable wave and two linearly damped waves with different damping
rates in a plasma is studied numerically. We compute the maximum Lyapunov
exponent as a function of the damping rates in a two-parameter space, and
identify shrimp-shaped self-similar structures in the parameter space. By
varying the damping rate of the low-frequency wave, we construct bifurcation
diagrams and focus on a saddle-node bifurcation and an interior crisis
associated with a periodic window. We detect chaotic saddles and their stable
and unstable manifolds, and demonstrate how the connection between two chaotic
saddles via coupling unstable periodic orbits can result in a crisis-induced
intermittency. The relevance of this work for the understanding of modulational
processes observed in plasmas and fluids is discussed.
