Collective motional resonances and instabilities of an electron cloud stored in a Penning trap

We have experimentally investigated the behavior of an electron cloud confined in a Penning trap at weak superimposed magnetic fields. Exciting the motional frequencies of the electrons by an external drive field we found the axial mode split into two components which were identified as center-of-mass and individual electron oscillations. When the trapping potential was varied, rapid electron loss appeared at numerous values of the applied voltage. They are determined by the relation n z ω z + n m ω m =ω c . ω z ,ω m ,ω c are the axial, magnetron, and cyclotron frequency of the trapped electrons, respectively. The reason for this loss is attributed to higher order contributions to the ideal quadrupole trapping potential