High resolution Time of Flight determination based on reconfigurable logic devices for future PET/MR systems

Abstract This contribution shows how to perform Time of Flight (TOF) measurements in PET systems using low-cost Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices with a resolution better of 100 ps. This is achieved with a proper management of the FPGA internal resources and with an extremely careful device calibration process including both temperature and voltage compensation. Preliminary results are reported.

Detector blockbased on arrays of 144 SiPMs and monolithic scintillators: A performane study

[EN] We have developed a detector block composed by a monolithic LYSO scintillator coupled to a custom made 12 12 SiPMs array. The design is mainly focused to applications such as Positron Emission Tomography. The readout electronics is based on 3 identical and scalable Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC). We have determined the main performance of the detector block namely spatial, energy, and time resolution but also the system capability to determine the photon depth of interaction, for different crystal surface treatments. Intrinsic detector spatial resolution values as good as 1.7 mm FWHM and energies of 15% for black painted crystals were measured. & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All…

Sobre Narcissus asturiensis (Jord.) Pugsley subsp. brevicoronatus (Pugsley) Uribe-Echebarría (Amaryllidaceae) y su ubicación en el grupo Asturiensis-Minor

A taxonomical, chorological, morphological and nomenclatural study about the so-called Narcissus asturiensis (Jord.) Pugsley subsp. brevicoronatus (Pugsley) Uribe-Echebarría and related taxa group asturiensis-minor (Amaryllidaceae) is here presented. Changes in the nomenclature of this group are proposed and keys to differentiate the three recognized subspecies are provided

Dos nuevos narcisos híbridos en el occidente de la península ibérica

Narcissus ×villasrubiensis González, Patino, Solís & Urrutia [N. triandrus L. subsp. pallidulus (Graells)] Rivas Goday × N. vitekii P. Escobar] and Narcissus × galaicus González, Patino, Solís & Urrutia (N. cyclamineus DC. × N. triandrus L. subsp. triandrus) are described.

Timing results using an FPGA-based TDC with large arrays of 144 SiPMs

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have become an alternative to traditional tubes due to several features. However, their implementation to form large arrays is still a challenge especially due to their relatively high intrinsic noise, depending on the chosen readout. In this contribution, two modules composed of SiPMs with an area of roughly mm mm are used in coincidence. Coincidence resolving time (CRT) results with a field-programmable gate array, in combination with a time to digital converter, are shown as a function of both the sensor bias voltage and the digitizer threshold. The dependence of the CRT on the sensor matrix temperature, the amount of SiPM active area and the crystal type…

Next generation of the Albira small animal PET based on high density SiPM arrays

A new design of the small animal PET Albira system which detectors are based on arrays of SiPMs and monolithic LYSO scintillator is presented here. The system is made out of 3 rings of 8 detectors each, resulting on an axial and transaxial FOVs of 148 and 80 mm, respectively. The scanner is thermally stabilized using air-cooling. Working temperatures around 22–25°C are reached with individual detector variations around 0.2°C minimizing dark count rates and gain drifts. One of the most significant improvements of the current system is the accurate photon impact determination within the crystal volume, specially its depth of interaction. This allows the calculation of the true line of respons…

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…

Time of flight measurements based on FPGA using a breast dedicated PET

In this work the implementation of a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) using a Nutt delay line FPGA-based and applied on a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) device is going to be presented in order to check the system’s suitability for Time of Flight (TOF) measurements. In recent years, FPGAs have shown great advantages for precise time measurements in PET. The architecture employed for these measurements is described in detail. The system developed was tested on a dedicated breast PET prototype, composed of LYSO crystals and Positive Sensitive Photomultipliers (PSPMTs). Two distinct experiments were carried out for this purpose. In the first test, system linearity was evaluated in order to …

Position sensitive photosensors based on SiPM arrays

Time of flight measurements based on FPGA and SiPMs for PET–MR

Coincidence time measurements with SiPMs have shown to be suitable for PET/MR systems. The present study is based on 3 x 3 mm(2) SiPMs, LSO crystals and a conditioning signal electronic circuit. A Constant Fraction Discriminator (CFD) is used to digitalize the signals and a TDC FPGA-implemented is employed for fine time measurements. TDC capability allows processing the arrival of multiple events simultaneously, measuring times under 100 ps. The complete set-up for time measurements results on a resolution of 892 +/- 41 ps for a pair of detectors. The details of such implementation are exposed and the trade-offs of each configuration are discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier By, All rights reserved,

Optimization of a Time-to-Digital Converter and a coincidence map algorithm for TOF-PET applications

This contribution describes the optimization of a multichannel high resolution Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) in a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) initially capable of obtaining time resolutions below 100ps for multiple channels. Due to its fast propagation capability it has taken advantage of the FPGA internal carry logic for accurate time measurements. Furthermore, the implementation of the TDC has been performed in different clock regions and tested with different frequencies as well, achieving improvements of up to 50% for a pair of channels. Moreover, since the TDC is potentially going to be used in a trigger system for Positron Emission Tomography (PET), the algorithm for coinci…

High-resolution multichannel Time-to-Digital Converter core implemented in FPGA for ToF measurements in SiPM-PET

In this contribution, Coincidence Resolving Time (CRT) results with the developed multichannel FPGA-TDC are showed as a function of different configurations for both, the sensor bias voltage and the digitizer threshold. The dependence of the CRT with the sensor matrix temperature, the amount of SiPM active area and the crystal type are also analyzed. Preliminary measurements carried out with a crystal array of 2 mm pixel size and 10 mm height have shown time resolutions for the entire 144 SiPM two-detectors ensemble as good as 800 ps.