Radiative Transfer Limits of Two-Frequency Wigner Distribution for Random Parabolic Waves

The present note establishes the self-averaging, radiative transfer limit for the two-frequency Wigner distribution for classical waves in random media. Depending on the ratio of the wavelength to the correlation length the limiting equation is either a Boltzmann-like integral equation or a Fokker-Planck-like differential equation in the phase space. The limiting equation is used to estimate three physical parameters: the spatial spread, the coherence length and the coherence bandwidth. In the longitudinal case, the Fokker-Planck-like equation can be solved exactly.Comment: typos correcte

Multiple scattering of ultrasound in weakly inhomogeneous media: application to human soft tissues

Waves scattered by a weakly inhomogeneous random medium contain a predominant single scattering contribution as well as a multiple scattering contribution which is usually neglected, especially for imaging purposes. A method based on random matrix theory is proposed to separate the single and multiple scattering contributions. The experimental set up uses an array of sources/receivers placed in front of the medium. The impulse responses between every couple of transducers are measured and form a matrix. Single-scattering contributions are shown to exhibit a deterministic coherence along the antidiagonals of the array response matrix, whatever the distribution of inhomogeneities. This property is taken advantage of to discriminate single from multiple-scattered waves. This allows one to evaluate the absorption losses and the scattering losses separately, by comparing the multiple scattering intensity with a radiative transfer model. Moreover, the relative contribution of multiple scattering in the backscattered wave can be estimated, which serves as a validity test for the Born approximation. Experimental results are presented with ultrasonic waves in the MHz range, on a synthetic sample (agar-gelatine gel) as well as on breast tissues. Interestingly, the multiple scattering contribution is found to be far from negligible in the breast around 4.3 MHz.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, final version, contains the appendix of the original articl

Superresolution and Duality for Time-Reversal of Waves in Self-Similar Media

We analyze the time reversal of waves in a turbulent medium using the parabolic Markovian model. We prove that the time reversal resolution can be a nonlinear function of the wavelength and independent of the aperture. We establish a duality relation between the turbulence-induced wave spread and the time-reversal resolution which can be viewed as an uncertainty inequality for random media. The inequality becomes an equality when the wave structure function is Gaussian

Radiative transfer of acoustic waves in continuous complex media: Beyond the Helmholtz equation

Heterogeneity can be accounted for by a random potential in the wave equation. For acoustic waves in a fluid with fluctuations of both density and compressibility (as well as for electromagnetic waves in a medium with fluctuation of both permittivity and permeability) the random potential entails a scalar and an operator contribution. For simplicity, the latter is usually overlooked in multiple scattering theory: whatever the type of waves, this simplification amounts to considering the Helmholtz equation with a sound speed $c$ depending on position $\mathbf{r}$. In this work, a radiative transfer equation is derived from the wave equation, in order to study energy transport through a multiple scattering medium. In particular, the influence of the operator term on various transport parameters is studied, based on the diagrammatic approach of multiple scattering. Analytical results are obtained for fundamental quantities of transport theory such as the transport mean-free path $\ell^*$, scattering phase function $f$ and anisotropy factor $g$. Discarding the operator term in the wave equation is shown to have a significant impact on $f$ and $g$, yet limited to the low-frequency regime i.e., when the correlation length of the disorder $\ell_c$ is smaller than or comparable to the wavelength $\lambda$. More surprisingly, discarding the operator part has a significant impact on the transport mean-free path $\ell^*$ whatever the frequency regime. When the scalar and operator terms have identical amplitudes, the discrepancy on the transport mean-free path is around $300\,\%$ in the low-frequency regime, and still above $30\,\%$ for $\ell_c/\lambda=10^3$ no matter how weak fluctuations of the disorder are. Analytical results are supported by numerical simulations of the wave equation and Monte Carlo simulations

Time Reversal Communication in Rayleigh-Fading Broadcast Channels with Pinholes

The paper presents an analysis of the time reversal in independent-multipath Rayleigh-fading channels with $N$ inputs (transmitters) and $M$ outputs (receivers). The main issues addressed are the condition of statistical stability, the rate of information transfer and the effect of pinholes. The stability condition is proved to be $MC\ll N_{\rm eff}B$ for broadband channels and $M\ll N_{\rm eff}$ for narrowband channels where $C$ is the symbol rate, $B$ is the bandwidth and $N_{\rm eff}$ is the {\em effective} number (maybe less than 1) of transmitters. It is shown that when the number of screens, $n-1$, is relatively low compared to the logarithm of numbers of pinholes $N_{\rm eff}$ is given by the {\em harmonic} (or {\em inverse}) {\em sum} of the number of transmitters and the numbers of pinholes at all screens. The novel idea of the effective number of time reversal array (TRA) elements is introduced to derive the stability condition and estimate the channel capacity in the presence of multi-screen pinholes. The information rate, under the constraints of the noise power $\nu$ per unit frequency and the average total power $P$, attains the supremum $P/\nu$ in the regime $M\wedge N_{\rm eff}\gg P/(\nu B)$. In particular, when $N_{\rm eff}\gg M\gg P/(B\nu)$ the optimal information rate can be achieved with statistically stable, sharply focused signals.Comment: Corrected typos and minor change of conten

Dynamical Origin of Decoherence in Clasically Chaotic Systems

The decay of the overlap between a wave packet evolved with a Hamiltonian H and the same state evolved with H}+$\Sigma$ serves as a measure of the decoherence time $\tau_{\phi}$. Recent experimental and analytical evidence on classically chaotic systems suggest that, under certain conditions, $\tau_{\phi}$ depends on H but not on $\Sigma$. By solving numerically a Hamiltonian model we find evidence of that property provided that the system shows a Wigner-Dyson spectrum (which defines quantum chaos) and the perturbation exceeds a crytical value defined by the parametric correlations of the spectra.Comment: Typos corrected, published versio

Far field subwavelength imaging and focusing using a wire medium based resonant metalens

This is the second article in a series of two dealing with the concept of "resonant metalens" we introduced recently [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 203901 (2010)]. It is a new type of lens capable of coding in time and radiating efficiently in the far field region sub-diffraction information of an object. A proof of concept of such a lens is performed in the microwave range, using a medium made out of a square lattice of parallel conducting wires with finite length. We investigate a sub-wavelength focusing scheme with time reversal and demonstrate experimentally spots with focal widths of {\lambda}/25. Through a cross-correlation based imaging procedure we show an image reconstruction with a resolution of {\lambda}/80. Eventually we discuss the limitations of such a lens which reside essentially in losses

Information transfer through disordered media by diffuse waves

We consider the information content h of a scalar multiple-scattered, diffuse wave field $\psi(\vec{r})$ and the information capacity C of a communication channel that employs diffuse waves to transfer the information through a disordered medium. Both h and C are shown to be directly related to the mesoscopic correlations between the values of $\psi(\vec{r})$ at different positions $\vec{r}$ in space, arising due to the coherent nature of the wave. For the particular case of a communication channel between two identical linear arrays of $n \gg 1$ equally-spaced transmitters/receivers (receiver spacing a), we show that the average capacity $\propto n$ and obtain explicit analytic expressions for $/n$ in the limit of $n \to \infty$ and $k \ell \to \infty$, where $k= 2\pi/ \lambda$, $\lambda$ is the wavelength, and $\ell$ is the mean free path. Modification of the above results in the case of finite but large n and $k \ell$ is discussed as well.Comment: REVTeX 4, 12 pages, 7 figure