In a heterogeneous medium, the wave field can be decomposed as an infinite series known as the Born expansion. Each term of the Born expansion corresponds to a scattering order, it is thus theoretically possible to discriminate single and multiple scattering contribution to the field. Experimentally, what is actually measured is the total field in which all scattering orders interfere. Conventional imaging methods usually rely on the assumption that the multiple scattering contribution can be disregarded. In a back-scattering configuration, this assumption is valid for small depths, and begins to fail for depths larger than the scattering mean-free path ${\ell }_s$. It is therefore a key issue to estimate the relative amount of single and multiple scattering in experimental data. To this end, a single-scattering estimator $\widehat{\rho }$ computed from the reflection matrix has been introduced in order to assess the weight of single scattering in the backscattered wave field. In this paper, the meaning of this estimator is investigated and a particular attention is given to recurrent scattering. In a diffraction-limited experiment, a multiple scattering sequence is said to be recurrent if the first and last scattering events occur in the same resolution cell. Recurrent scattering is shown to be responsible for correlations between single scattering and higher scattering orders of the Born expansion, inducing a bias to the estimator $\widehat{\rho }$ that should rather be termed confocal scattering ratio. Interestingly, a more robust estimator is built by projecting the reflection matrix in a focused basis. The argument is sustained by numerical simulations as well as ultrasonic data obtained around 1.5 MHz in a model medium made of nylon rods immersed in water. From a more general perspective, this work raises fundamental questions about the impact of recurrent scattering on wave imaging.

• Received 9 February 2022
• Accepted 24 June 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.106.025001