Systems and methods for downhole imaging through a scattering medium

1. A system for downhole optical imaging in a pressurized wellbore at least partially filled with a highly scattering material, comprising:

a housing forming at least a portion of a tool string;

a source arranged within the housing, the source emitting light through a window formed in the housing;

an imager arranged within the housing, the imager receiving imaging data through the window; and

a control system communicatively coupled to the imager, the control system processing the image data using one or more algorithms, the one or more algorithms modifying the imaging data based at least in part on the highly scattering material surrounding the housing, the highly scattering material including one of suspended solid particles, gas bubbles in a liquid, or liquid-in-liquid emulsions and reducing light intensity by a factor of at least 100,000 per millimeter of pathlength.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the housing is deployed on a wireline.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more algorithms include at least one of a time gating operation and a speckle correlation.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a machine learning system, the machine learning system being trained to identify one or more autocorrelations between first speckle image data corresponding to image data absent a scattering medium and second speckle image data corresponding to image data in the presence of the scattering medium.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a timer, the timer restricting image data capture to a predetermine time period, the predetermined time period corresponding to ballistic photons.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the housing is positioned within the wellbore and the scattering material is a drilling fluid, particulate matter, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitted by the source is near infrared light.

8. A method for downhole optical imaging, comprising:

positioning an imaging device and a source within a downhole tool;

arranging the downhole tool proximate a wellbore wall in an underground formation, the wellbore wall and the downhole tool being covered by a highly scattering material, the highly scattering material including one of suspended solid particles, gas bubbles in a liquid, or liquid-in-liquid emulsions and reducing light intensity by a factor of at least 100,000 per millimeter of pathlength;

collecting image data, the image data collected through the highly scattering material positioned between the downhole tool and the wellbore wall, the image data reflecting off the wellbore wall; and

processing the image data, using one or more algorithms, the one or more algorithms adjusting the image data at least in part on the highly scattering material.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the image data comprises, at least in part, speckle image data.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein processing the image data further comprises:

determining an autocorrelation between the image data and reference image data; and

determining a phase of the image data, based at least in part on a phase-retrieval algorithm.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein collecting the image data further comprises:

collecting first image data over a first period of time, the first image data corresponding to ballistic photons; and

collecting second image data over a second period of time, the second image data corresponding to scattered photons.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the image data further comprises:

determining a first image, based at least in part on the first image data;

determining a second image, based at least in part on the second image data, the second image corresponding to a time averaged composition; and

determining an origin of the first image data and the second image data.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the source and the imager are arranged on the same side of the wellbore wall.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

emitting a near infrared light from the source toward the wellbore wall.

15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining one or more features of the wellbore wall, based at least in part on processed image data.

16. A system for downhole optical imaging, comprising:

a housing forming at least a portion of a tool string, the housing arranged within a wellbore, the wellbore including a fluid having suspended particles;

a source arranged within the housing, the source emitting light through a window formed in the housing;

an imager arranged within the housing, the imager receiving imaging data through the window, the imager arranged proximate the source; and

a control system adapted to process the image data using a plurality of algorithms for determining imaging information through a highly scattering material, the highly scattering material reducing light intensity by a factor of at least 100,000 per millimeter of pathlength, the plurality of algorithms including at least speckle correlation, time gating, and phase retrieval, the plurality of algorithms adapted for use with a downhole environment where the imaging information travels through a thickness of the highly scattering material at least two times.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the housing is deployed on a wireline.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the source and the imager is moveable to a position closer to a wellbore wall than the housing.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the light emitted by the source is near infrared light.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of algorithms include a time gating operation and speckle correlation.