A new borehole electromagnetic receiver developed for controlled-source electromagnetic methods

Conventional surface electromagnetic methods have limitations of a shallow detection depth and low resolution. To increase the detection depth and resolution, borehole–surface electromagnetic methods for electromagnetic three-dimensional observations of the ground, tunnels, and boreholes have been developed. Current borehole receivers only measure a single parameter of the magnetic field component, which does not meet the special requirements of controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) methods. This study proposes a borehole electromagnetic receiver that realizes synchronous acquisition of the vertical electric field component in the borehole and the three-axis orthogonal magnetic field components. This receiver uses Ti electrodes and fluxgate magnetometers (fluxgates) as sensors to acquire electric and magnetic field components. Multi-component comprehensive observation methods that add the electric field component can effectively support the CSEM method, improve detection accuracy, and exhibit a strong potential for detecting deep ore bodies. We conducted laboratory and field experiments to verify the performance of our new borehole electromagnetic receiver. The receiver achieved a magnetic field noise of less than 6 pTHz-1/2 at 1 kHz, and the electric field noise floor was approximately 20 nVm-1Hz-1/2 at 1 kHz. The −3 dB electric field bandwidth can reach DC −10 kHz. The results of our experiments prove that high-quality CSEM signals can be obtained using this new borehole electromagnetic receiver and that the electric field component exhibits sufficient advantages for measuring the vertical component of the electric field.