Wave packets in smoothly inhomogeneous dispersive media

In the quasi-optical aberration-free approximation, a parabolic equation for the envelope of an electromagnetic wave packet propagating along a geometric optical ray in a smoothly inhomogeneous isotropic medium with time dispersion is obtained. The corresponding Green’s function is found whose parameters are determined by integrating a system of ordinary differential equations. The effects of the combined influence of the refraction, diffraction, and dispersion on the evolution of the packet are analyzed; in particular, the effects that cause precession of the envelope waves about the binormal to the propagation trajectory are considered.