Dual-ended readout of bismuth germanate to improve timing resolution in time-of-flight PET.

In this study, both ends of a 3 × 3 × 20 mm<sup>3</sup> BGO crystal were coupled to NUV-HD SiPMs. Trigger time differences from the dual-ended readout of BGO were widely distributed due to detecting a mixture of prompt Cerenkov and scintillation photons on both SiPMs. When using trigger times from only a single SiPM, the estimated coincidence timing resolution between two identical BGO detectors was 463 ps FWHM and 1463 ps FWTM. In contrast, when using trigger times from both SiPMs, the estimated coincidence timing resolution was 399 ps FWHM and 936 ps FWTM with no loss of events. Based on a recent report, high-bandwidth amplifiers were implemented and shown to further improve the estimated coincidence timing resolution to 331 ps FWHM and 923 ps FWTM. In summary, the coincidence timing resolution of BGO, most notably the FWTM, was significantly improved using time information from the dual-ended readout.
PMID: 30978713 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - April 11, 2019 Category: Physics Authors: Kwon SI, Roncali E, Gola A, Paternoster G, Piemonte C, Cherry SR Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research