Scattering control for the wave equation with unknown wave speed (Q1757148)

The authors consider the acoustic wave equation with unknown wave speed $c$ in a bounded or unbounded domain $\Omega$. They propose and study a time reversal-type iterative process, the scattering control series, which allows to erase the history of a wave field up to a given depth in a medium, without any knowledge of $c$. An exact and microlocal (asymptotically high-frequency) analysis of its behavior and convergence properties are realized. In the context of seismic or ultrasound imaging, this iterative procedure can be viewed as removing multiple reflections from normal-directed wavefronts. Several applications of scattering control, including the removal of multiple reflections and the measurement of energy content of a wave field at a particular depth in a given domain are presented.