Unified wave field retrieval and imaging method for inhomogeneous non-reciprocal media

TL;DR

This paper extends the Marchenko imaging method to non-reciprocal media, enabling accurate wave field retrieval and imaging in complex inhomogeneous materials with strong multiple scattering effects.

Contribution

It introduces a unified wave equation and reciprocity theorems for non-reciprocal media, adapting the Marchenko method for improved imaging in such materials.

Findings

Successfully modeled the method with numerical simulations

Achieved artifact-free imaging in non-reciprocal layered media

Enhanced understanding of wave behavior in non-reciprocal materials

Abstract

Acoustic imaging methods often ignore multiple scattering. This leads to false images in cases where multiple scattering is strong.Marchenko imaging has recently been introduced as a data-driven way to deal with internal multiple scattering. Given the increasing interest in non-reciprocal materials, both for acoustic and electromagnetic applications, we propose to modify the Marchenko method for imaging such materials. We formulate a unified wave equation for non-reciprocal materials, exploiting the similarity between acoustic and electromagnetic wave phenomena. This unified wave equation forms the basis for deriving reciprocity theorems that interrelate wave fields in a non-reciprocal medium and its complementary version. Next, we reformulate these theorems for downgoing and upgoing wave fields. From these decomposed reciprocity theorems we derive representations of the Green's function inside the non-reciprocal medium, in terms of the reflection response at the surface and focusing functions inside the medium and its complementary version. These representations form the basis for deriving a modified version of the Marchenko method to retrieve the wave field inside a non-reciprocal medium and to form an image, free from artefacts related to multiple scattering. We illustrate the proposed method at the hand of the numerically modeled reflection response of a horizontally layered medium.