Propagation of a Wave Packet in a Dispersive and Anisotropic Medium

Abstract

The propagation of wave packets in a dispersive and anisotropic medium is formulated generally. An amplitude function is found to be a crucial auxiliary function that describes the three-dimensional propagation of a wave packet. This amplitude function, satisfying a differential equation, contains competing processes of dispersion and anisotropy in distorting the pulse. Once found, it must be further manipulated to obtain the field vector. As examples, this formulation is applied to propagation of two kinds of waves; gravity waves in a rotating atmosphere and electromagnetic waves in a magnetoplasma. Contrasting from the monochromatic case, the polychromatic features in the propagation of wave packets are pointed out both in polarization properties and amplitude dispersion.