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 a.nd
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 to 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.