Focusing Beyond the Diffraction Limit with Far-Field Time Reversal

We present an approach for subwavelength focusing of microwaves using both a time-reversal mirror placed in the far field and a random distribution of scatterers placed in the near field of the focusing point. The far-field time-reversal mirror is used to build the time-reversed wave field, which in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2007-02, Vol.315 (5815), p.1120-1122
Main Authors: Lerosey, Geoffroy, de Rosny, Julien, Tourin, Arnaud, Fink, Mathias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antenna arrays
Antennas
Construction
Diffraction
Evanescent waves
Exact sciences and technology
Far fields
Focusing
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Microwaves
Near fields
Optics
Physics
Scattering
Scientific imaging
Signals
Statistical distributions
Wave diffraction
Wave optics
Wave propagation
Wave propagation, transmission and absorption
Wavelengths
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Summary:We present an approach for subwavelength focusing of microwaves using both a time-reversal mirror placed in the far field and a random distribution of scatterers placed in the near field of the focusing point. The far-field time-reversal mirror is used to build the time-reversed wave field, which interacts with the random medium to regenerate not only the propagating waves but also the evanescent waves required to refocus below the diffraction limit. Focal spots as small as one-thirtieth of a wavelength are described. We present one example of an application to telecommunications, which shows enhancement of the information transmission rate by a factor of 3.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1134824