Title :
A High-Speed Functional MicroCT Detector for Small Animal Studies
Author :
Nagarkar, Vivek V. ; Tipnis, Sameer V. ; Shestakova, Irina ; Gaysinskiy, Valeriy ; Singh, Bipin ; Paulus, Michael J. ; Entine, Gerald
Author_Institution :
Radiat. Monitoring Devices Inc., Watertown, MA
Abstract :
Dedicated MicroCT systems for noninvasive screening of small animals are now in routine use. However, speed of operation limits their use for functional studies. At Radiation Monitoring Devices (RMD), we are addressing this need by developing a digital X-ray detector that can simultaneously provide high speed, high sensitivity, and a large active imaging area. The system consists of a special high-speed CCD detector optically coupled to a scintillator. In its current configuration, the system provides an active area of 5 cmtimes5 cm, a spatial resolution of ~100 mum, and can operate at speeds of up to 225 frames per second. The system has been used to acquire volumetric CT data with 360 projections in ~12 seconds compared to several minutes needed for most commercial systems. This paper presents the design of various system components and performance characterization with CT reconstruction data from a mouse phantom
Keywords :
X-ray detection; charge-coupled devices; computerised tomography; phantoms; position sensitive particle detectors; radiation monitoring; scintillation counters; CT reconstruction; CsI(Tl) scintillator; EMCCD; digital X-ray detector; high sensitivity imaging area; high speed imaging area; high-speed CCD detector; high-speed functional microCT systems; large active imaging area; mouse phantom; noninvasive screening; radiation monitoring devices; small animal imaging; Animals; Charge coupled devices; Computed tomography; High speed optical techniques; High-resolution imaging; Optical detectors; Optical imaging; Optical sensors; Radiation monitoring; X-ray detectors; Cesium iodide; EMCCD; microCT detector; small animal imaging;
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TNS.2006.882294
