Springer Electromagnetic Pulse Propagation in Casual Dielectrics: 16 (Springer Series on Wave Phenomena, 16)

This research monograph presents a systematic treatment of the theory of the propagation of transient electromagnetic fields (such as optical pulses) through dielectric media which exhibit both dispersion and absorption. The work divides naturally into two parts. Part I presents a summary of the fundamental theory of the radiation and propagation of rather general electromagnetic waves in causal, linear media which are homogeneous and isotropic but which otherwise have rather general dispersive and absorbing properties. In Part II, we specialize on the propagation of a plane, transient electromagnetic field in a homogeneous dielectric. Although we have made some contributions to the fundamental theory given in Part I, most of the results of our own research appear in Part II. The purpose of the theory presented in Part II is to predict and to explain in explicit detail the dynamics of the field after it has propagated far enough through the medium to be in the mature-dispersion regime. It is the subject of a classic theory, based on the research conducted by A. Sommerfeld and L. From the Back Cover Electromagnetic Pulse Propagation in Causal Dielectrics presents a systematic treatment of the theory of the propagation of transient electromagnetic fields (such as ultrashort, ultrawide-band pulses) through homogeneous, isotopic, locally linear media which exhibit both dispersion and absorption. The subject of the book is twofold. Part I presents a detailed rigorous treatment of the fundamental theory of electromagnetic pulse propagation in causally dispersive media that is applicable to dielectric, conducting, or semiconducting media. Part II provides a detailed asymptotic description of plane-wave pulse propagation in a Lorentz model dielectric and provides a rigorous account ot the signal velocity of a pulse in that dispersive medium.