Limitations of the deconvolutional imaging condition for two-way propagators

The deconvolutional imaging condition has gained wide attention in recent years, as it is often used to image surface-related multiples. However, we noticed on close inspection that this condition was derived from one-way propagation principles. Now that two-way wave-equation based simulations have become more affordable, we revisit the deconvolutional imaging condition and reveal its limitations for two-way propagators. First, it can distort the image due to receiver-side propagation effects. Second, when used to image surface-related multiples, it is not capable of removing all interfering phantom reflectors.