Electromagnetic sinc Schell-model pulses in dispersive media

•We introduced a new class of random electromagnetic pulsed sources.•We derived its analytical formulas for the electromagnetic pulses in dispersive media.•It is shown that its temporal intensity distribution exhibits unique propagation features.

A class of random electromagnetic pulsed sources with sinc Schell-model correlations is introduced. Analytical formulas for the electromagnetic pulses generated by such pulsed sources propagating in dispersive media are derived. It is shown that the temporal intensity distribution of this new type of pulse exhibits unique propagation features, such as reshaping its average intensity from the initial Gaussian profile to a double-layer flat-top distribution at far field. The effects, arising from the source temporal coherent length and the dispersion coefficient, on the profiles of the temporal intensity distribution and the temporal degree of polarization are analyzed in detail. The results presented here demonstrate the potential of coherence modulation for pulse shaping applications.