0000000000222456
AUTHOR
Christoph Lerche
Depth of /spl gamma/-ray interaction within continuous crystals from the width of its scintillation light-distribution
We have studied a new and inexpensive method of measuring the depth of interaction (DOI) in /spl gamma/-ray detectors with large-sized scintillation crystals. This method takes advantage of the strong correlation between the width of the undisturbed light-distribution in continuous crystals and the /spl gamma/-ray's DOI. In order to quantify the dependence of the distribution's width with respect to the DOI, we first studied an analytical model of the light-distribution and tested it by means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the light transport inside the crystal. Further we present an inexpensive modification of the commonly used charge division circuit that allows analog and instantaneo…
Impact of crystal quality, geometry and surface finish for 3D impact position measurements in gamma ray detection systems
We have studied several ways of optimizing the 3D impact position measurements for gamma ray imaging detectors based on continuous monolithic large sized and thick scintillation crystals. The readout of such detectors is performed with position sensitive photo multipliers and with a depth of interaction (DOI) enhanced charge division readout. We have studied the effect of the crystal truncation angle, the reflective covering and the absorption and scattering mean free paths of the crystal. In particular, we have simulated and measured the impact on the energy resolution and the 3D spatial resolution. The results show that by optimization of the accessible crystal parameters we can enhance t…
Multiprocessor SoC Implementation of Neural Network Training on FPGA
Software implementations of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and their training on a sequential processor are inefficient because they do not take advantage of parallelism. ASIC and FPGA implementations employ specific hardware structures to exploit parallelism in order to improve processing speed; however, optimizing resource usage requires the use of fixed-point arithmetic, thereby losing precision, and the final system is restricted to a particular network topology. This paper presents a mixed approach based on a multiprocessor system-on-chip (SoC) on a FPGA. The use of software-driven embedded microprocessors with custom floating-point extensions for ANN related functions allows for gr…
DOI measurement with monolithic scintillation crystals: A primary performance evaluation
We report a first assessment of image quality enhancement achieved by the implementation of depth of interaction detection with monolithic crystals. The method of interaction depth measurement is based on analogue computation of the standard deviation with an enhanced charge divider readout. This technique of depth of interaction detection was developed in order to provide fast and determination of this parameter at a reasonable increase of detector cost. The detector consists of an large-sized monolithic scintillator coupled to a position sensitive photomultiplier tube. A special design feature is the flat-topped pyramidal shape of the crystal. This reduces image compression near the edges…
Dependency of Energy-, Position- and Depth of Interaction Resolution on Scintillation Crystal Coating and Geometry
Options for optimizing the energy and spatial resolution of gamma-ray imaging detectors based on thick, monolithic crystals shaped like flat-topped pyramids were studied. Monte Carlo simulations were made of the scintillation light transport for evaluating the effect of four parameters on the energy resolution, the spatial resolutions, and the depth of interaction (DOI) resolution of the gamma-ray imaging detector. These four parameters are: the reflectivity of the surface coating; the scatter mean free path; the absorption mean free path of the scintillation light; and the angle that defines the inclination of the sides of the pyramidal frustum. In real detectors, the values for the mean f…