About “Superluminal” Propagation of Electromagnetic Pulse in a Resonance-Absorbing Gas Medium

Based on the direct calculation of the Fourier integral and without simplifying assumptions, an analysis of the process of propagation of terahertz pulses from the hat-shaped envelope and the Van Bladel envelope through a layer of a resonantly absorbing medium described by the Drude-Lorentz model is made. It is shown that until the end of the time interval prescribed by Maxwell's equations, there is no radiation at the exit from the layer. In other words: the Fourier integral does not contain the effect of “superluminal” propagation of an electromagnetic pulse through a resonantly absorbing medium. An alternative interpretation of the shift to the beginning of the pulse of the maximum of the envelope of the radiation emerging from the layer at small optical depths (~ 1) of the layer on the pulse carrier is proposed.