Localized Waves

Book excerpt: The first book on Localized Waves—a subject of phenomenal worldwide research with important applications from secure communications to medicine Localized waves—also known as non-diffractive waves—are beams and pulses capable of resisting diffraction and dispersion over long distances even in non-guiding media. Predicted to exist in the early 1970s and obtained theoretically and experimentally as solutions to the wave equations starting in 1992, localized waves now garner intense worldwide research with applications in all fields where a role is played by a wave equation, from electromagnetism to acoustics and quantum physics. In the electromagnetics areas, they are paving the way, for instance, to ubiquitous secure communications in the range of millimeter waves, terahertz frequencies, and optics. At last, the localized waves with an envelope at rest are expected to have important applications especially in medicine. Localized Waves brings together the world's most productive researchers in the field to offer a well-balanced presentation of theory and experiments in this new and exciting subject. Composed of thirteen chapters, this dynamic volume: Presents a thorough review of the theoretical foundation and historical aspects of localized waves Explores the interconnections of the subject with other technologies and scientific areas Analyzes the effect of arbitrary anisotropies on both continuous-wave and pulsed non-diffracting fields Describes the physical nature and experimental implementation of localized waves Provides a general overview of wave localization, for example in photonic crystals, which have received increasing attention in recent years Localized Waves is the first book to cover this emerging topic, making it an indispensable resource in particular for researchers in electromagnetics, acoustics, fundamental physics, and free-space communications, while also serving as a requisite text for graduate students.