Laplace-domain crosstalk-free source-encoded elastic full-waveform inversion using time-domain solvers

Crosstalk-free source-encoded elastic full-waveform inversion (FWI) using time-domain solvers demonstrates skill and efficiency at conducting seismic inversions involving multiple sources and receivers with limited computational resources. A drawback of common formulations of the procedure is that, by sweeping through the frequency domain randomly at a rate of one or a few sparsely sampled frequencies per shot, it is difficult to simultaneously incorporate time-selective data windows, as necessary for the targeting of arrivals or wave packets during the various stages of the inversion. Here, we solve this problem by using the Laplace transform of the data. Using complex-valued frequencies allows for damping the records with flexible decay rates and temporal offsets that target specific traveltimes. We present the theory of crosstalk-free source-encoded FWI in the Laplace domain, develop the details of its implementation, and illustrate the procedure with numerical examples relevant to exploration-scale scenarios.