Recursive Green functions technique applied to the propagation of elastic waves in layered media

Guided by similarities between electronic and classical waves, a numerical code based on a formalism proven to be very effective in condensed matter physics has been developed, aiming to describe the propagation of elastic waves in stratified media (e.g. seismic signals). This so-called recursive Green function technique is frequently used to describe electronic conductance in mesoscopic systems. It follows a space-discretization of the elastic wave equation in frequency domain, leading to a direct correspondence with electronic waves travelling across atomic lattice sites. An inverse Fourier transform simulates the measured acoustic response in time domain. The method is numerically stable and computationally efficient. Moreover, the main advantage of this technique is the possibility of accounting for lateral inhomogeneities in the acoustic potentials, thereby allowing the treatment of interface roughness between layers. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.