Wigglers: the newest profession

Wiggler systems have been used in storage rings within the last year to increase the intensity of synchrotron radiation available for experiments as well as to increase the reaction rates in high energy physics experiments. Multiperiod wigglers or undulators have also been used recently to make quasi-monochromatic photon beams as well as amplify existing photon beams such as in the free electron laser. If one defines a wiggler to be any system of transverse, periodic electromagnetic fields, then recent results on photon production via charged particle channeling in crystals also fall within this sphere. Of course, any periodic modulation of a charge or magnetic moment (e.g., by a laser) could produce coherent radiation or, conversely, passage through a periodic aperture (e.g., a metal bellows). This discussion is limited to a typical, active, macroscopic device and how it provides some unique advantages which are practical to achieve in storage rings. As implied, the subject divides into two basic parts - one related to the radiation from the wiggler and the other related to machine physics applications, e.g., tailoring the phase space of the particle beam, modifying its damping rates or possibly optimizing a ring for production of radiation. Neither area is exhausted nor hopefully the reader, since our goal is only to present enough information to allow one to make reasonable estimates of some important effects