Redistribution of energy flow in a material due to damping

The field lines of energy flow of the radiation emitted by a linear dipole in free space are straight lines, running radially outward from the source. When the dipole is embedded in a medium, the field lines are curves when the imaginary part of the relative permittivity is finite. It is shown that due to the damping in the material all radiation is emitted in directions perpendicular to the dipole axis, whereas for a dipole in free space the radiation is emitted in all directions except along the dipole axis. It is also shown that some field lines in the near field form semiloops. Energy flowing along these semiloops is absorbed by the material and does not contribute to the radiative power in the far field.