Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion
We demonstrate that ultrasound diffusion—typically associated with the transport of average wave energy and the breaking of time-reversal symmetry—can nonetheless be revealed through a time-reversal experiment. This is achieved using an unprecedented configuration: A single piezoelectric transducer,...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/47wj-s8lj |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849685332378779648 |
|---|---|
| author | Yamil Abraham Bart A. van Tiggelen Nicolas Benech Carlos Negreira Xiaoping Jia Arnaud Tourin |
| author_facet | Yamil Abraham Bart A. van Tiggelen Nicolas Benech Carlos Negreira Xiaoping Jia Arnaud Tourin |
| author_sort | Yamil Abraham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We demonstrate that ultrasound diffusion—typically associated with the transport of average wave energy and the breaking of time-reversal symmetry—can nonetheless be revealed through a time-reversal experiment. This is achieved using an unprecedented configuration: A single piezoelectric transducer, acting as a time-reversal mirror (TRM), is buried deep inside a strongly scattering medium (a dense granular suspension), while an array of transducers is positioned at a distance, outside the scattering region. A short pulse is emitted by a single array element and the TRM records the resulting ultrasonic field, composed of a coherent ballistic wave followed by a diffuse coda wave. When the entire coda is time-reversed and re-emitted from the TRM, the wave refocuses at the original source with a focal spot size that decreases with the inverse of the TRM depth, consistent with diffusive transport. By time-reversing short coda segments at increasing times t, we observe a focal spot size scaling as 1/sqrt[Dt], where D is the ultrasound diffusion coefficient. Fitting this evolution with a microscopic diffusion model allows us to extract D. Remarkably, this measurement does not require ensemble averaging, because of the inherent stability of time-reversal against statistical fluctuations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b4fdeb32e56641398b7db6a76681b4ea |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-b4fdeb32e56641398b7db6a76681b4ea2025-08-20T03:23:11ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642025-06-017202329110.1103/47wj-s8ljTime-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusionYamil AbrahamBart A. van TiggelenNicolas BenechCarlos NegreiraXiaoping JiaArnaud TourinWe demonstrate that ultrasound diffusion—typically associated with the transport of average wave energy and the breaking of time-reversal symmetry—can nonetheless be revealed through a time-reversal experiment. This is achieved using an unprecedented configuration: A single piezoelectric transducer, acting as a time-reversal mirror (TRM), is buried deep inside a strongly scattering medium (a dense granular suspension), while an array of transducers is positioned at a distance, outside the scattering region. A short pulse is emitted by a single array element and the TRM records the resulting ultrasonic field, composed of a coherent ballistic wave followed by a diffuse coda wave. When the entire coda is time-reversed and re-emitted from the TRM, the wave refocuses at the original source with a focal spot size that decreases with the inverse of the TRM depth, consistent with diffusive transport. By time-reversing short coda segments at increasing times t, we observe a focal spot size scaling as 1/sqrt[Dt], where D is the ultrasound diffusion coefficient. Fitting this evolution with a microscopic diffusion model allows us to extract D. Remarkably, this measurement does not require ensemble averaging, because of the inherent stability of time-reversal against statistical fluctuations.http://doi.org/10.1103/47wj-s8lj |
| spellingShingle | Yamil Abraham Bart A. van Tiggelen Nicolas Benech Carlos Negreira Xiaoping Jia Arnaud Tourin Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion Physical Review Research |
| title | Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| title_full | Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| title_fullStr | Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| title_short | Time-reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| title_sort | time reversal inside a granular suspension to probe ultrasound diffusion |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/47wj-s8lj |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yamilabraham timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion AT bartavantiggelen timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion AT nicolasbenech timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion AT carlosnegreira timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion AT xiaopingjia timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion AT arnaudtourin timereversalinsideagranularsuspensiontoprobeultrasounddiffusion |