Design of a small laboratory Compton camera for the imaging of positron emitters

Author

Scannavini, M.G. ; Speller, R.D. ; Royle, G.J. ; Cullum, I. ; Raymond, M. ; Hall, G. ; Iles, G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Med. Phys. & Bioeng., Univ. Coll. London, UK

Volume

47

Issue

3

fYear

2000

fDate

6/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1155

Lastpage

1162

Abstract

A small laboratory prototype has been designed for the Compton imaging of annihilation photons produced from positron emitters. Considerations on the design of the scatter collimator are presented and the system configuration is described. The system features a stack of four AC coupled, double-sided silicon strip detectors (6×6 cm² area, 500 μm thickness, 470 μm strip pitch, 128 channels/side) in a double Compton configuration and externally triggered readout mode. Signal readout is obtained by bonding two 128-channel low-noise APV6 chips to each detector. Custom electronics have been developed for the chip readout. The system is currently being assembled. The estimated angular resolution of the camera is approximately 4 degrees. High sensitivity could be achieved by extending the number of stack elements and by improving the design of the trigger detector, which presently consists of a small area germanium crystal

Keywords

Compton effect; biomedical electronics; biomedical equipment; cameras; laboratory techniques; positron emission tomography; 470 mum; 500 mum; AC coupled double-sided silicon strip detectors; Ge; Si; chip readout; custom electronics; double Compton configuration; externally triggered readout mode; medical diagnostic imaging; medical instrumentation; nuclear medicine; small area germanium crystal; small laboratory Compton camera; stack elements; trigger detector; Cameras; Collimators; Detectors; Electromagnetic scattering; Laboratories; Particle scattering; Positrons; Prototypes; Silicon; Strips;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.856563

Filename

856563