Loss-cone instability: Wave saturation by particle trapping

The nonlinear mechanisms governing the interactions between whistler or lower hybrid waves and loss-cone type particles' distributions in magnetized plasmas are of great importance if one considers the major role that waves of frequency below the electron cyclotron frequency play in space and thermonuclear fusion plasmas. Up to now, most of the numerical simulations have been devoted to study the nonlinear processes at work when the plasma is weakly relativistic and when the anisotropy of the particles' distributions leads to the so-called maser instability. However, in many interesting cases, the particles' energies are sufficiently weak to ensure the validity of the nonrelativistic approximation. In this framework, the paper studies the interaction at normal cyclotron resonances between lower hybrid waves and electron distributions presenting loss-cone like features. A theoretical Hamiltonian model and a corresponding numerical symplectic code are used to evidence and to explain the nonlinear mechanisms at work at the saturation stage of the loss-cone instability. Moreover, simple analytical expressions and scaling laws have been derived for the linear growth rates and the wave amplitude at saturation