Simulation of imaging with sodium iodide crystals and position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes

Author

Ordonez, C.E. ; Mintzer, R.A. ; Aarsvold, J.N. ; Yasillo, N.J. ; Matthews, K.L.

Author_Institution

Franklin McLean Memorial Res. Inst., Chicago Univ., IL, USA

Volume

41

Issue

4

fYear

1994

fDate

8/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1510

Lastpage

1515

Abstract

The imaging characteristics of miniature gamma cameras that consist of a single sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) crystal coupled to a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) have been studied via Monte Carlo simulations. Images obtained with such cameras with the use of conventional position calculations exhibit considerable distortions, particularly compression. This study demonstrates that the distortions result primarily from nonuniform sensitivities of PSPMTs and secondarily from nonlinear responses of PSPMTs, light-reflection properties resulting from the treatments of crystals, and light-refractive properties of glass interfaces between crystals and photocathodes. Simulation results are compared to images obtained with a prototype miniature gamma camera

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; biomedical equipment; cameras; photomultipliers; radioisotope scanning and imaging; Monte Carlo simulations; NaI(Tl) crystal; NaI:Tl; glass interfaces; light-reflection properties; light-refractive properties; medical diagnostic imaging; medical instrumentation; miniature gamma cameras; nonuniform sensitivities; nuclear medicine; photocathodes; position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes; prototype miniature gamma camera; Cameras; Gamma rays; Glass; Image coding; Light emitting diodes; Nonlinear distortion; Optical imaging; Photomultipliers; Photonic crystals; Virtual prototyping;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.322940

Filename

322940