Saturation process induced by vortex-merging in numerical Vlasov-Maxwell experiments of stimulated Raman backscattering

International audience; The influence of low-frequency nonlinear Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK)-type waves induced by trapped electrons in backward stimulated Raman scattering is investigated in optical mixing. Semi-Lagrangian Vlasov-Maxwell simulations show two nonlinear behaviors. First, there is a Morales-O’Neil plasma wave frequency downshift retuned by a small wavenumber shift which maintains the Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) resonance. The saturation of Raman backscattering begins with phase space vortex merging followed by a transition to lower wavenumbers following the (nonlinear) dispersion relation, resembling weak turbulence.