Ray tracing through models consisting of constant-velocity layers separated by curved interfaces, may be implemented by finding ray-paths whose traveltimes are stationary with respect to changes in ray/interface intersection positions. The amplitude of the resulting event is related to the second derivative of the traveltime with respect to changes in ray/interface intersection position. For complex multilayered models the traveltime functions can be multivalued. Stationary points are then found by decomposition of the function into a number of single valued functions.
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Dave Waltham (1988) studied this question.