This article explores some dominant trends in teaching classical electromagnetic (EM) field theory in electrical engineering (EE) undergraduate curricula. The acronym EM will be used interchangeably to designate either electromagnetic or electromagnetism. The intended significance will be evident from the context.

@en

Diffraction of pulsed electromagnetic (EM) waves in a slot excited Fabry Perót type resonator antenna is studied analytically in the modiÀed Kirchhoff approximation. Closed-form space-time expressions for the radiated EM Àelds are found using the Cagniard-DeHoop technique. Illustrative numerical examples are given.@en

A full analytic time-domain analysis is presented for a canonical problem of electromagnetic interference related to the operation of integrated-circuit devices at optical frequencies, where metal screens and substrates can no longer be characterized as perfect electrical conductors, but the plasmonic behavior of conduction electrons in the metal has to be taken into account.@en

A special form of the time-domain optical theorem related to a general receiving antenna system is rigorously derived. It is shown that the total energies dissipated in the antenna load and in the antenna system itself can be directly related to the electromagnetic energy of the scattered field and its time-domain far-field characteristics. A practical implication of the result in optimizing antenna scattering properties with regard to the maximum energy dissipated in the antenna loading is discussed.@en

Analytic time domain expressions are derived for the pulsed electromagnetic field radiated by a narrow slot antenna with a dielectric layer in a two-dimensional model configuration. In any finite time window of observation, exact pulse shapes for the propagated, reflected, and refracted wave constituents are constructed with the aid of the modified Cagniard method (Cagniard-DeHoop method). Numerical results are presented for vanishing slot width and field pulse shapes at the dielectric/free space interface. Applications are found in any system whose operation is based on pulsed electromagnetic field transfer and where digital signals are detected and interpreted in dependence on their pulse shapes.@en