Characterization of highly multiplexed monolithic PET/gamma camera detector modules

摘要

PET detectors use signal multiplexing to reduce the total number of electronics channels needed to cover a given area. Using measured thin-beam calibration data, we tested a principal component based multiplexing scheme for scintillation detectors. The highly-multiplexed detector signal is no longer amenable to standard calibration methodologies. In this study we report results of a prototype multiplexing circuit, and present a new method for calibrating the detector module with multiplexed data.MethodsA 50 × 5 × 10 mm³ LYSO scintillation crystal was affixed to a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube with 8 × 8 position-outputs and one channel that is the sum of the other 64. The 65-channel signal was multiplexed in a resistive circuit, with 65:5 or 65:7 multiplexing. A 0.9 mm beam of 511 keV photons was scanned across the face of the crystal in a 1.52 mm grid pattern in order to characterize the detector response. New methods are developed to reject scattered events and perform depth-estimation to characterize the detector response of the calibration data. Photon interaction position estimation of the testing data was performed using a Gaussian Maximum Likelihood estimator and the resolution and scatter-rejection capabilities of the detector were analyzed.