Focusing waves in an unknown medium without wavefield decomposition

Abstract

The Gel'fand-Levitan equation, the Gopinath-Sondhi equation, and the Marchenko equation are developed for one-dimensional inverse scattering problems. Recently, a version of the Marchenko equation based on wavefield decomposition has been introduced for focusing waves in multi dimensions. However, wavefield decomposition is a limitation when waves propagate horizontally at the focusing level. Here, the Marchenko equation for focusing without wavefield decomposition is derived, and by iteratively solving the Marchenko equation, the Green's function for an arbitrary location in the medium is retrieved from the scattered waves recorded on a closed receiver array and an estimate of the direct-wave without wavefield decomposition.