Nanostructured neutron sensitive materials for well logging applications

An apparatus for estimating a property of an earth formation penetrated by a borehole, the apparatus comprising:

• a carrier configured to be conveyed through the borehole;
• a neutron source disposed at the carrier and configured to irradiate the formation with neutrons;
• a neutron detector disposed at the carrier and configured to detect a neutron resulting from one or more interactions between the neutrons emitted from the neutron source and the formation, the neutron detector comprising a neutron interaction material configured to emit a charged particle upon absorbing a neutron and a plurality of nanoparticles distributed in the neutron interaction material, each nanoparticle in the plurality being configured to scintillate upon interacting with the charged particle to emit a pulse of light;
• and
• a photodetector coupled to the neutron interaction material and configured to detect the pulse of light and generate a signal upon detecting the pulse of light;
• wherein the signal is used to estimate the property.

A method for estimating a property of an earth formation penetrated by a borehole, the method comprising:

• conveying a carrier through the borehole;
• irradiating the formation with neutrons emitted from a neutron source;
• receiving neutrons resulting from interactions of the emitted neutrons with the formation using a neutron detector, the neutron detector comprising a neutron interaction material configured to emit a charged particle upon absorbing a neutron and a plurality of nanoparticles distributed in the neutron interaction material, each nanoparticle in the plurality being configured to scintillate upon interacting with the charged particle to emit a pulse of light;
• receiving the pulse of light with a photodetector to produce a signal;
• and
• estimating the property using the signal.