This text presents a systematic discussion of electromagnetic waves and radiation
processes in a wide variety of media. The treatment, taken from the field of plasma physics,
is based on the dielectric tensor; the authors unify approaches used in plasma physics and
astrophysics on the one hand and in optics on the other. Necessary mathematical tools,
such as tensor algebra, Fourier transforms, and distributions, are included in Part One. Parts
Two, Three, and Four cover the properties of media, the properties of waves in various …

IT is a surprise to open a book that is an advanced text on electromagnetic theory and to find
a non-traditional approach. Melrose and McPhedran have taken the Fourier-space
description as the basis for their treatment, rather than the more traditional emphasis on a
coordinatespace description. The latter fails to cope with the more demanding applications
of electromagnetic theory to plasmas, for which the Fourier-space description has been
developed and used in the plasma physics literature. Traditionally, students of plasma …