ELEMENTARY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES A. Plane, Spherical, and Gaussian Electromagnetic Waves B. Relation Between Electromagnetic Optics and Scalar Wave Optics ABSORPTION AND DISPERSION A. Absorption B. Dispersion C. The Resonant Medium PULSE PROPAGATION IN DISPERSIVE MEDIA | Fundamentals of Photonics Bahaa E. A. Saleh Malvin Carl Teich Copyright 1991 John Wiley Sons Inc. ISBNs 0-471-83965-5 Hardback 0-471-2-1374-8 Electronic CHAPTER ELECTROMAGNETIC OPTICS ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY OF LIGHT DIELECTRIC MEDIA A. Linear Nondispersive Homogeneous and Isotropic Media B. Nonlinear Dispersive Inhomogeneous or Anisotropic Media MONOCHROMATIC ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES ELEMENTARY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES A. Plane Spherical and Gaussian Electromagnetic Waves B. Relation Between Electromagnetic Optics and Scalar Wave Optics ABSORPTION AND DISPERSION A. Absorption B. Dispersion C. The Resonant Medium PULSE PROPAGATION IN DISPERSIVE MEDIA James Clerk Maxwell 1831-1879 advanced the theory that light is an electromagnetic wave phenomenon. 157 Light is an electromagnetic wave phenomenon described by the same theoretical principles that govern all forms of electromagnetic radiation. Optical frequencies occupy a band of the electromagnetic spectrum that extends from the infrared through the visible to the ultraviolet Fig. . Because the wavelength of light is relatively short between 10 nm and 1 mm the techniques used for generating transmitting and detecting optical waves have traditionally differed from those used for electromagnetic waves of longer wavelength. However the recent miniaturization of optical components . optical waveguides and integrated-optical devices has caused these differences to become less significant. Electromagnetic radiation propagates in the form of two mutually coupled vector waves an electric-field wave and a magnetic-field wave. The wave optics theory described in Chap. 2 is an approximation of the electromagnetic theory in which light is described by a single scalar function of position and time the wavefunction . This approximation is adequate for paraxial waves under certain conditions. As shown in Chap. 2 the ray optics approximation provides a further simplification valid in the limit of short .
