Thomson scattering measurements of saturated ion waves in laser fusion plasmas.

We have measured the characteristics of saturated ion-acoustic waves in inertial confinement fusion plasmas. A 263-nm probe laser has been applied to simultaneous Thomson scatter on both ion-acoustic waves excited by thermal electrostatic fluctuations and by stimulated Brillouin scattering of a kilojoule laser beam of varying intensity. The Thomson scattering spectra show saturated ion-wave amplitudes for intensities above 5x10(14) W cm(-2) consistent with three dimensional nonlinear wave modeling.