Time Reversal of Electromagnetic Waves

Abstract

We report the first experimental demonstration of time-reversal focusing with electromagnetic waves. An antenna transmits a $1\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{\mu s}$ electromagnetic pulse at a central frequency of 2.45 GHz in a high-$Q$ cavity. Another antenna records the strongly reverberated signal. The time-reversed wave is built and transmitted back by the same antenna acting now as a time-reversal mirror. The wave is found to converge to its initial source and is compressed in time. The quality of focusing is determined by the frequency bandwidth and the spectral correlations of the field within the cavity.