Observation of the Nonlinear Saturation of Langmuir Waves Driven by Ponderomotive Force in a Large Scale Plasma

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.2965· OSTI ID:686901

Kirkwood, R K; Moody, J D; MacGowan, B J; Glenzer, S H; Williams, E A; Young, P E; Kruer, W L; Estabrook, K G; Berger, R L ^[1]; Montgomery, D S ^[2]; Afeyan, B B ^[3]; Joshi, C; Wharton, K B ^[4]

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1. University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
3. Polymath Research Inc., Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
4. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024 (United States)

We report the observation of nonlinear saturation of Langmuir waves produced by a probe laser beam interacting with a high intensity pumping laser beam. Amplification of the probe beam is observed and interpreted as scattering of pump energy by a Langmuir wave that is produced by the beating of the two beams. It is found that, as the probe beam amplitude is increased, the scattering and Langmuir wave amplitude do not increase proportionally, demonstrating that the wave is nonlinearly saturated consistent with saturation by secondary-ion-wave instabilities. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 686901
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 83; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
LIGHT SCATTERING
NOVA FACILITY
PLASMA WAVES
PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE