Title :
Silicon photomultiplier performance tests in magnetic resonance pulsed fields
Author :
Hawkes, Rob ; Lucas, Alun ; Stevick, Joseph ; Llosa, Gabriela ; Marcatili, Sara ; Piemonte, Claudio ; Guerra, Alberto Del ; Carpenter, T. Adrian
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge
fDate :
Oct. 26 2007-Nov. 3 2007
Abstract :
We are investigating the performance of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment with a view to exploiting the potential advantages in a combined positron emission tomography / magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR) system. SiPMs are attractive for PET because they are compact, provide high gain at low bias voltage, and fast response times. Importantly for combined PET/MR applications, they offer performance comparable to that of the photomultiplier tube (PMT) and are insensitive to magnetic fields. To study the effect of MR static magnetic, pulsed gradient and radio-frequency fields on SiPM performance, we have acquired data whilst switching magnetic fields with the SiPM positioned in the MR system. The wide ´dynamic range´ of SiPMs facilitates their use in both low light level and PET applications; we have acquired ´single photoelectron´ and 22Na energy spectra to demonstrate SiPM performance for this application. As expected, no degradation in inherent SiPM performance in an MR environment is observed.
Keywords :
biomedical MRI; photomultipliers; positron emission tomography; silicon; combined PET-MR system; magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic resonance pulsed fields; positron emission tomography; pulsed gradient fields; radio-frequency fields; silicon photomultiplier performance tests; static magnetic fields; Delay; Low voltage; Magnetic fields; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic resonance imaging; Photomultipliers; Positron emission tomography; Radio frequency; Silicon; Testing; MRI; PET; SiPM; photomultiplier; silicon;
Conference_Titel :
Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2007. NSS '07. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Honolulu, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0922-8
Electronic_ISBN :
1095-7863
DOI :
10.1109/NSSMIC.2007.4436860