Introduction to the theory of free electron lasers

We present an introduction to some fundamental aspects of the theory of free electron lasers. Spontaneous radiation emitted by electrons traversing a wiggler magnet is briefly reviewed, and stimulated emission in the low-gain regime is discussed using Colson's pendulum equations and Madey's theorems. The high-gain regime is treated by an extention of the work of Bonifacio, Pellegrini, and Narducci. We introduce dynamical variables to describe the radiation field, and a Hamiltonian formulation of Maxwell's equations is employed. A canonical transformation to the interaction representation factors out the fast time variation of the radiation field, and the slow time dependence is determined by linearized equations for the appropriate collective variables. As an application of this technique we consider self-amplified spontaneous radiation, and we comment upon the relationship between our approach and the use of coupled Vlasov-Maxwell equations