First results from a test bench for very high resolution small animal PET using solid-state detectors

A test bench was developed to demonstrate the potential of silicon based solid-state detectors for very high resolution small animal PET. In our experiments we achieved a spatial resolution of 700 μm FWHM and a uniform response over a wide field of view. The time resolution of the solid-state detectors as well as possible further improvements of the spatial resolution for higher energy β⁺ emitters using strong magnetic fields are also discussed.