REFLECTION OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE INCIDENT ON A NONLINEAR MEDIUM

The reflection and transmission of an electromagnetic wave pulse incid ent on a strongly nonlinear medium are considered. An exact analytical solution is found for a rather general medium model that is character ized by two arbitrary parameters. It is shown that almost all the inci dent energy of some pulse forms can be reflected at large amplitudes, whereas small amplitude fields are transmitted through the medium. For other pulse forms, part of the reflected pulse can reverse its polari zation due to the time dependence of the reflection coefficient.