Stimulated Emission of Bremsstrahlung in a Periodic Magnetic Field

The Weizsäcker-Williams method is used to calculate the gain due to the induced emission of radiation into a single electromagnetic mode parallel to the motion of a relativistic electron through a periodic transverse dc magnetic field. Finite gain is available from the far-infrared through the visible region raising the possibility of continuously tunable amplifiers and oscillators at these frequencies with the further possibility of partially coherent radiation sources in the ultraviolet and x-ray regions to beyond 10 keV. Several numerical examples are considered.