SATURATION OF STIMULATED RAMAN-SCATTERING BY THE EXCITATION OF STRONG LANGMUIR TURBULENCE

Numerical studies of a model of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) coupled to Langmuir turbulence show that once the collisional threshold is exceeded for parametric decay of the SRS daughter Langmuir wave the noncollisional dissipation resulting from Langmuir collapse can strongly saturate the Langmuir wave and the resulting SRS reflectivity. The model provides information on the total rate of hot electron generation. Scaling laws for the reflectivity as a function of laser and plasma parameters are found.