Free electron lasers with slowly varying beam and undulator parameters

A self-consistent theory of a free electron laser (FEL) with slowly varying beam and undulator parameters is developed using the WKB approximation. The theory is applied to study the performance of a self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) FEL when the electron beam energy varies along the undulator as would be caused by vacuum pipe wakefields and/or when the undulator strength parameter is tapered in the small signal regime before FEL saturation. We find that a small energy gain or an equivalent undulator taper slightly reduces the power gain length in the exponential growth regime and can increase the saturated SASE power by about a factor of 2. Power degradation away from the optimal performance can be estimated based upon knowledge of the SASE bandwidth. The analytical results, which agree with numerical simulations, are used to optimize the undulator taper and to evaluate wakefield effects.