High-speed single photon counting read out electronics for a digital detection system for clinical synchrotron radiation mammography

The SYRMEP beam line is currently in the upgrading phase for mammographic examinations on patients at Elettra in Trieste. At the same time, a digital detection system, suitable for in -vivo breast imaging, is under development; it consists of a silicon laminar detector array operating in single photon counting mode. The duration of a clinical examination should not exceed a few seconds. Fast read out electronics is therefore necessary with the aim of avoiding losses in image contrast in presence of high counting rates. A custom ASIC working with 100% efficiency for rates up to 100 kHz per pixel has been designed and tested, and other solutions based on commercially available ASICs are currently under test. Several detector prototypes have been assembled, and images of mammographic test objects have been acquired. Image quality, efficiency and contrast losses have been evaluated in all cases as a function of the counting rate.