Numerical Solution of the Inverse Scattering Problem for the Acoustic Equation in an Absorptive Layered Medium

We consider a nonlinear ordinary differential equation associated with a number of inverse scattering problems in acoustic and seismic sounding in which acoustic impedance and an impedance-dependent unknown damping coefficient are the unknown function. We prove that the Cauchy problem is uniquely solvable when the derivative is treated as a generalized function. It is established that the inverse scattering problem in a layered dissipative medium simultaneously determines the acoustic impedance and the damping coefficient. A regularized numerical algorithm is proposed and numerical results are reported.