Speakers Lecture

Prof. Mathias Fink | Vebleo | ESPCI Paris, PSL University, France | #517

Presentation Title: Wave Control for Wireless Communications: From Time-Reversal Processing to Large Reconfigurable Intelligent Metasurfaces

Prof. Mathias Fink presented this talk in the webinar on Materials Science, Engineering and Technology organized by Vebleo

Affiliation: Langevin Institute, ESPCI Paris, PSL University, 1 Rue Jussieu, Paris, 75005, France

Biography

Mathias Fink is the George Charpak Professor at the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris) where he founded In 1990 the Laboratory “Ondes et Acoustique” that became in 2009 the Langevin Institute. 

Prof. Mathias Fink is member of the French Academy of Science and of the National Academy of Technologies of France. In 2008, he was elected at the College de France on the Chair of Technological Innovation. Prof. Mathias Fink has received several scientific awards as the CNRS Medal of innovation, the Helmholtz-Rayleigh Award of the Acoustical Society of America, the Rayleigh Award of the IEEE Ultrasonics Society and the Edwin H. Land Medal of the Optical Society of America.

Mathias Fink’s area of research is concerned with the propagation of waves in complex media and the development of numerous instruments based on this basic research. His current research interests include wave control in complex media, time-reversal in physics, metamaterials, telecommunications, super-resolution, medical ultrasonic imaging, multiwave imaging and acoustic smart objects.

With his colleagues, he pioneered different inventions in the field of wireless communications (Time-reversal processing and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces) and in medical imaging (ultrafast ultrasonic imaging, transient elastography, shear wave Elastography, supersonic shear imaging).

His work has accumulated more than 54.000 citations and he holds more than 75 patents. 6 start-up companies with more than 400 employees have been created from his research (Echosens, Sensitive Object, Supersonic Imagine, Time Reversal Communications, CardiaWave and GreenerWave). 

Prof. Mathias Fink given more than 450 invited or plenary lectures or keynote lectures. He has 75 Patents, 410 Peer-Reviewed Published papers and 280 Non-Peer-Reviewed Published papers. His H index Google Scholar is 117 and H index Web of Science is 90. Prof. Fink supervisor 63 PHD.

Abstract

In this talk, I will show how the works performed at Langevin Institute have led 8 years ago to the seminal concept behind large reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) that is currently a topic of great interest in the wireless communication community and that is proposed as a new paradigm for the sixth generation (6G) of communication networks.

Starting with the first demonstrations of ultrasonic time-reversal focusing in complex media, I will underline how these ideas were transposed later, for electromagnetic waves, into the concept of massive multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) for the (5G) communication networks.

Then, I will explain how, working on the concept of wavefront shaping using spatial light modulators in optics, we propose an equivalent for the microwave domain, using tunable metasurfaces, a concept that would solve the drastic price problem of active techniques like time reversal MIMO.

By smartly tuning the signal reflection of large metasurfaces, reconfigurable tunable metasurfaces are capable of dynamically altering wireless channels in disordered environments to enhance the communication performance. Using reconfigurable metasurfaces placed inside any complex environment, we tune the medium complexity to obtain the best communication performance.

Graphical Abstract

Prof. Mathias Fink - Vebleo

This talk was delivered in the webinar organized by Vebleo