Intense coherent submillimeter radiation in electron storage rings

Energetic electron bunches in storage rings produce pulsed bursts of incoherent synchrotron radiation. It is pointed out that they should also produce a roughly comparable power output of coherent radio-frequency radiation. Thus electron storage rings, in addition to their intended purpose and their secondary use as intense sources of x rays, might additionally serve as pulsar simulators, producing a similar spectrum of coherent emission, the properties and modification of which could be studied in the laboratory. A spontaneous bunching of electrons (artificially bunched here) might be evidenced as ''superbunching.''