Cagniard–De Hoop method

In the mathematical modeling of seismic waves, the Cagniard–De Hoop method is a sophisticated mathematical tool for solving a large class of wave and diffusive problems in horizontally layered media. The method is based on the combination of a unilateral Laplace transformation with the real-valued and positive transform parameter and the slowness field representation. It is named after Louis Cagniard and Adrianus de Hoop; Cagniard published his method in 1939, and de Hoop published an ingenious improvement on it in 1960.

Initially, the Cagniard-De Hoop technique was of interest to the seismology community only. Thanks to its versatility, however, the technique has become popular in other disciplines and is nowadays widely accepted as the benchmark for the computation of wavefields in layered media. In its applications to calculating wavefields in general N-layered stratified media, the Cagniard-De Hoop technique is also known as the generalized ray theory. The complete generalized-ray theory, including the pertaining wave-matrix formalism for the layered medium with arbritrary point sources, has been developed by de Hoop (with his students) for acoustics waves (De Hoop, 1988), elastic waves (Van Der Hijden, 1987) and electromagnetic waves (Stumpf et al., 2013).

Further reading

• De Hoop, A. T. "A modification of Cagniard's method for solving seismic pulse problems". Applied Scientific Research, B8 (1960): 349–356.

• De Hoop, A. T., "Acoustic radiation from impulsive sources in a layered fluid," Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, 4.6 (1988): 111–129.

• Van Der Hijden, J. H. M. T., "Propagation of Transient Elastic Waves in Stratified Anisotropic Medium," North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1987.

• Stumpf, M., A. T. De Hoop, and G. A. E. Vandenbosch. "Generalized ray theory for time-domain electromagnetic fields in horizontally layered media." IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Aropagation 61.5 (2013): 2676-2687.