Single-cycle electromagnetic pulses produced by oscillating electric dipoles

Abstract

We report an exact analytic solution of the Maxwell equations that is capable of describing single-cycle electromagnetic pulses beyond the slowly varying envelope approximation. The solution is based on the radiation field emitted by oscillating electric dipoles under the complex-source-point model. The spatiotemporal evolution of single-cycle electromagnetic pulses in free space is illustrated and discussed in detail by using the analytic solution obtained.