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Learning to focus: Physics-Informed Deep Learning for Super-Resolved Ultrasonic Phased-Array Imaging


Thesis topic details

General information

Organisation

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.

Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.

The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
  

Reference

SL-DRT-26-0512  

Direction

DRT

Thesis topic details

Category

Technological challenges

Thesis topics

Learning to focus: Physics-Informed Deep Learning for Super-Resolved Ultrasonic Phased-Array Imaging

Contract

Thèse

Job description

This PhD aims to develop a new class of ultrasonic focusing methods for phased-array imaging by combining deep learning, physics-based modeling, and optimal transport theory. The first research axis introduces a reweighted, probabilistic extension of the Total Focusing Method (TFM), where per-isochrone focusing weights are iteratively estimated by a shared convolutional network and normalized using a neural time-of-flight field. This iterative, differentiable framework enables more adaptive, interpretable, and robust imaging in heterogeneous or uncertain media.

The second axis proposes a full reformulation of TFM as a Wasserstein barycenter problem, in which each partial image is modeled as an empirical distribution in a joint space of spatial coordinates and ultrasonic amplitude. A physically meaningful transport cost, based on geodesic distances that minimize time-of-flight variations with respect to selected emitters, encodes the acoustic geometry directly in the metric. The resulting grid-free barycenters yield sharp, physically consistent reflector localization and open new opportunities at the interface between optimal transport and ultrasonic phased-array imaging. Overall, the thesis aims to merge physics, machine learning, and geometric optimal transport to formulate next-generation reconstruction methods for ultrasonic imaging.

University / doctoral school

Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (STIC)
Paris-Saclay

Thesis topic location

Site

Saclay

Requester

Position start date

01/10/2026

Person to be contacted by the applicant

LE BOURDAIS Florian florian.lebourdais@cea.fr
CEA
DRT/DISC//LSME
CEA-Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex
01 69 08 17 75

Tutor / Responsible thesis director

NGOLE MBOULA Fred Maurice fred-maurice.ngole-mboula@cea.fr
CEA
DRT/LIST/DIN/SMCD/LIIDE
CEA-Saclay, Digiteo
0169081194

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