title: Design and performance of a high spatial resolution, time-of-flight PET detector.
abstract: This paper describes the design and performance of a high spatial resolution PET detector with time-of-flight capabilities. With an emphasis on high spatial resolution and sensitivity, we initially evaluated the performance of several 1.5 × 1.5 and 2.0 × 2.0 mm2and 12-15 mm long LYSO crystals read out by several appropriately sized PMTs. Experiments to evaluate the impact of reflector on detector performance were performed and the final detector consisted of a 32 × 32 array of 1.5 × 1.5 × 15 mm3LYSO crystals packed with a diffuse reflector and read out by a single Hamamatsu 64 channel multi-anode PMT. Such a design made it compact, modular and offered a cost-effective solution to obtaining excellent energy and timing resolution. To minimize the number of readout signals, a compact front-end readout electronics that summed anode signals along each of the orthogonal directions was also developed. Experimental evaluation of detector performance demonstrates clear discrimination of the crystals within the detector. An average energy resolution (FWHM) of 12.7 ± 2.6% and average coincidence timing resolution (FWHM) of 348 ps was measured, demonstrating suitability for use in the development of a high spatial resolution time-of-flight scanner for dedicated breast PET imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
authors.forename: Srilalan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishnamoorthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: LeGeyt
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
authors.forename: Matthew E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
authors.forename: Madhuri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaul
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Newcomer
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiology and Physics & Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Joel S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Karp
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
authors.forename: Suleman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Surti