Title
| Sub-100 ps coincidence time resolution for positron emission tomography with LSO:Ce codoped with Ca |
Author(s)
| Nemallapudi, Mythra Varun (CERN) ; Gundacker, Stefan (CERN) ; Lecoq, Paul (CERN) ; Auffray, Etiennette (CERN) ; Ferri, Alessandro (Fond. Bruno Kessler, Trento) ; Gola, Alberto (Fond. Bruno Kessler, Trento) ; Piemonte, Claudio (Fond. Bruno Kessler, Trento) |
Publication
| 2015 |
Number of pages
| 15 |
In:
| Phys. Med. Biol. 60 (2015) 4635-4649 |
DOI
| 10.1088/0031-9155/60/12/4635
|
Abstract
| The coincidence time resolution (CTR) becomes a key parameter of 511keV gamma detection in time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). This is because additional information obtained through timing leads to a better noise suppression and therefore a better signal to noise ratio in the reconstructed image. In this paper we present the results of CTR measurements on two different SiPM technologies from FBK coupled to LSO:Ce codoped 0.4%Ca crystals. We compare the measurements performed at two separate test setups, i.e. at CERN and at FBK, showing that the obtained results agree within a few percent. We achieve a best CTR value of 85 ± 4 ps FWHM for 2 × 2 × 3 mm3 LSO:Ce codoped 0.4%Ca crystals, thus breaking the 100 ps barrier with scintillators similar to LSO:Ce or LYSO:Ce. We also demonstrate that a CTR of 140 ± 5 ps can be achieved for longer 2 × 2 × 20 mm3 crystals, which can readily be implemented in the current generation PET systems to achieve the desired increase in the signal to noise ratio. |