Metasurface-Based Time-Reversal Focusing for Brain Tumor Microwave Hyperthermia

Abstract: We introduce a metasurface-based system for the microwave hyperthermia treatment of brain tumors, where the metasurface is designed by the time-reversal technique for optimal focusing at the location of the tumor. Compared to previous time-reversal microwave hyperthermia systems, which are based on antenna arrays, the proposed system offers two advantages: 1) it provides superior focal resolution, due to the finer sampling capability of its deeply-subwavelength metasurface particles compared to that of typical array antenna elements, 2) it features much lower complexity and cost, due to its direct illumination principle compared to the heavy feeding network of the array system. The system leverages reflecting metallic walls and a rich scattering structure in combination with the metasurface to achieve high hyperthermia performance with maximal simplicity. The metasurface system is demonstrated by full-wave simulation results, which show that it represents a viable novel noninvasive hyperthermia technology.