Properties and Applications of Ultra-Short Electromagnetic Mono-and Sub-Cycle Waves

Properties and possible applications of ultra-short (femto- to pico-second) electrounagneticmono- and sub-cycle waves are studied. First, the structural characteristics of these waves areexarnined. 'h'ansient pulses of circtrlarity polarized waves have more complicated structuresthan those of plane polarized ones. In addition, a pair of colliding pulses may locally andinstantaneously generate purely electric or rnagnetic fields. A general method is presented todescribe linear characteristics of these waves propagating through some homogeneous, dispersivemedia such as air, plasma and optical fibers. Althotrgh their spectra are ultra-wideband, shouldtheir time duration be short enough, these pulses can in sonae cases propagate through dispersivemedia for relatively long distances, approximately maintaining their original wavefornus. Inparticular, such pulses traveling in a plaszna shoxvs a characteristic quite opposite to that ofordinary wave packets.