Least-squares reverse-time migration (LSRTM) has emerged as a method to generate high-quality images by progressively decreasing the misfit between the observed data and the modeled data, in order to achieve an inverse effect of the modeling operator. In the construction of a inversion problem from a modeling operator, the standard procedure begins by seeking the adjoint operator. However, the adjoint operator is not the inverse operator, and thus it often needs numerous iterations to approach the inverse effect. Alternatively, we can seek the approximate asymptotic inverse operator as the migration operator. This allows us to achieve the inverse effect with fewer iterations. The approximate inverse operator lies in three aspects: the back-propagation wavefield, the bond betweeen the reflectivity function and the scattering function, and the weighting factor [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the incidence angle. The adjoint operator utilizes the observed data or data residual as sources to generate the back-propagation wavefield, whereas the approximate inverse operator treats these as boundary conditions. This subtle difference has implications for the amplitude perservation of the inverted images. By binding the reflectivity function and the scattering function through the factor, we can effectively employ a single modeling operator, based the scattering function, as the demigration operator for the reflectivity function. This strategy enables the simultaneous inversion for the scattering and reflectivity functions, effectively bypassing the challenges typically associated with direct modeling through the reflectivity function itself. Numerical examples indicate that 3 to 5 iterations may be adequate to produce high-quality images.
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