  We study the propagation of few-cycle pulses in two-component medium
consisting of nonlinear amplifying and absorbing two-level centers embedded
into a linear and conductive host material. First we present a linear theory of
propagation of short pulses in a purely conductive material, and demonstrate
the diffusive behavior for the evolution of the low-frequency components of the
magnetic field in the case of relatively strong conductivity. Then, numerical
simulations carried out in the frame of the full nonlinear theory involving the
Maxwell-Drude-Bloch model reveal the stable creation and propagation of
few-cycle dissipative solitons under excitation by incident femtosecond optical
pulses of relatively high energies. The broadband losses that are introduced by
the medium conductivity represent the main stabilization mechanism for the
dissipative few-cycle solitons.

Optics