ON THE SATURATION OF ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON MASERS IN SOLAR-FLARES

We consider the relaxation of an unstable distribution of fast non-relativistic electrons. Langmuir turbulence generated by the electrons is found to determine the saturation of an electron-cyclotron maser. The important role of nonlinear processes in Langmuir and electromagnetic waves is shown. The characteristic saturation time is about 1 ms. It is shown that both cyclotron maser emission and the transformation of plasma waves to transverse ones can be essential in the formation of observable radio spectra from solar flares.