Parametrically pumped electron oscillators

Parametrically pumped electron oscillators synchronize abruptly when the pump power exceeds a threshold and the oscillators are radiatively cooled in a cylindrical Penning trap. The collisionally coupled electron oscillators are under precise experimental control and exhibit a rich and varied nonlinear dynamics, with abrupt thresholds, hysteresis, abrupt transitions between bistable response phases, etc. Synchronized electrons are an ideal probe of the radiation field of a trap cavity, opening the way to a new generation of electron magnetic-moment measurements and to sideband cooling of an electron motion to millikelvin temperatures.