A Quasi-Wave Method for Determination of a General Solution to the Complex Maxwell Equations in an Inhomogeneous Anisotropic Absorbing Medium

A formal general solution to the homogeneous Maxwell equations is obtained in the form of a matrix asymptotic series for the case of a quasi-plane-layered medium in which complex tensors and arbitrarily depend on Cartesian coordinate z and slowly change in the planes z = const. A recurrent system of matrix first-order linear ordinary differential equations for the coefficients of this series is derived. In contrast to the method of geometric optics, this solution, even in the first approximation, takes into account the wave polarization and has a wider range of application.