Interferometric imaging by deconvolution: theory and numerical examples

Seismic interferometry is a field of growing interest in exploration seismology. In this paper we provide the theoretical basis for performing interferometry by deconvolution. We argue that for general models, deconvolution interferometry gives only the causal scattering response between any two receivers, as opposed to cross-correlation which gives both causal and acausal scattering responses. Deconvolution interferometry also gives rise to a spurious event not present in cross-correlation. Through a simple model, we gain physical insight about the meaning of each term in deconvolution interferometry. We also show deconvolution interferometry can also be accomplished after summation over sources. We demonstrate the feasibility of deconvolution interferometry with numerical examples on with impulsive sources, and show that the deconvolution interferometry artifacts are not mapped onto the image space. Finally, we show that deconvolution interferometry can successfully image drill-bit source data without independent estimates of the source function with quality comparable to impulsive source data.