Quantum and free-electron lasers (FELs) are based on distributed interactions between electromagnetic radiation and gain media. In an amplifier configuration, a forward wave is amplified while propagating in a polarized medium. Formulating a coupled mode theory for excitation of both forward and backward waves, we identify conditions for phase matching, leading to efficient excitation of backward wave without any mechanism of feedback or resonator assembly. The excitations of incident and reflected waves are described by a set of coupled differential equations expressed in the frequency domain. The induced polarization is given in terms of an electronic susceptibility tensor. In quantum lasers the interaction is described by two first order differential equations, while in high-gain free-electron lasers, the differential equations are of the third order each. Analytical solutions of reflectance and transmittance for both quantum lasers and FELs are presented. It is found that when the solutions become infinite, the device operates as an oscillator, producing radiation at the output with no field at its input, entirely without any localized or distributed feedback.

CSRtrack is a new code for the simulation of Coherent Synchrotron radiation effects on the beam dynamics of linear accelerators. It incorporates the physics of our previous code, TraFiC4, and adds new algorithms for the calculation of the CSR fields. A one-dimensional projected method allows quick estimates and a greens function method allows 3D calculations about ten times faster than with the `direct' method. The tracking code is written in standard FORTRAN77 and has its own parser for comfortable input of calculation parameters and geometry. Phase space input and the analysis of the traced particle distribution is done with MATLAB interface programs.