Optimal wave focusing

Focusing waves inside a medium has applications in various science and engineering fields, e.g., in medical imaging, ultrasound therapy, noninvasive surgery, nondestructive evaluation, and geophysics in areas such as imaging and focusing microseismic events. The goal in focusing is to concentrate the wave energy at a specific time and location inside a medium. Various techniques have been devised and used to achieve this goal. Time-reversal (TR) is a well-researched method that has been used routinely to focus acoustic and seismic waves. Here, we propose a new technique wherein wave focusing is cast as an optimization problem. The objective is to study the possibility of improving upon the performance of the existing focusing methods.