Extension of the Sommerfeld diffraction integral to the case of extremely short optical pulses

The Sommerfeld diffraction theory is extended to the case of extremely short pulses. It is shown that a simple qualitative analysis and a quantitative solution of a wide class of diffraction problems are possible for pulses with durations of the order of the period of the light oscillations and an arbitrary initial distribution of the light field. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 5, 323–326 (10 September 1997) Deceased