A New Cyclotron Radiation Mechanism in Astrophysics, Space and the Laboratory

From the study of the radio and X-ray emission from stars, we discovered a new radiation emission mechanism produced by energetic electrons entering a region of increasing magnetic field. This cyclotron maser process was found to be extremely efficient at converting electron energy into radio frequency emission. When a beam of electrons enters a region of increasing magnetic field strength, conservation of magnetic moment leads to the electron beam forming a crescent or horse-shoe shaped distribution in velocity space. Such a distribution is unstable and leads to the generation of cyclotron maser type radiation.