Development of coded-aperture imaging with a compact gamma camera

In the 1990´s, CEA has developed one of the most compact operational gamma cameras in the world, CARTOGAM, capable of mapping the surrounding radioactivity and representing it superimposed onto a visible-light image. Since, the camera has been successfully industrialized and commercialized. In the same time, the Kurchatov Institute has developed a coded-aperture gamma camera. The two teams have joined their efforts to develop a compact coded-aperture gamma camera. This paper presents the first results obtained with a coded mask adapted to the existing CARTOGAM camera. According to preliminary simulations compact coded-aperture gamma camera could enable Cs-137 or Co-60 source imaging. Innovative masks have been achieved that lead to the following results: a significant increase in the sensitivity (up to 10 times), an acceptable angular resolution (2° to 3°) and a large field of view (about 30°). The tungsten-alloy masks were produced and the adaptation of the camera was carried out. The laboratory results of Cs-137 and Co-60 imaging, including shadowgrams and reconstructed images for point sources, are presented.