• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2005

Small animal PET using a dual layer phoswich detector has been developed to obtain high and uniform spatial resolution. In this study, a simple analytic model to optimize the lengths of a dual layer phoswich detector was derived and validated by Monte Carlo simulation. For a small animal PET scanner with a 10㎝ ring diameter, the optimal length of the phoswich detector consisting of various crystal materials, such as LSO and LuYAP, were calculated analytically and validated using GATE. The detector module consisted of 8×8 arrays of crystals, with each phoswich detector element having a 2㎜×2㎜ sensitive area. The total crystal length was fixed to 20㎜. The optimal lengths of the phoswich detector layers, as functions of the crystal materials and order, conveniently derived by the analytic equation, showed good agreement with those estimated by the time consuming simulation. The simple analytical model can be used for the fast and accurate design of an optimal phoswich detector for small animal PET to achieve high spatial resolution and uniformity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.44-44
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• 2003

As a basic measurement tool in the areas of animal models of human disease, gene expression and therapy, and drug discovery and development, small animal PET imaging is being used increasingly. An ideal small animal PET should have high sensitivity and high and uniform resolution across the field of view to achieve high image quality. However, the combination of long narrow pixellated crystal array and small ring diameter of small animal PET leads to the degradation of spatial resolution for the source located at off center. This degradation of resolution can be improved by determining the depth of interaction (DOI) in the crystal and by taking into account the information in sorting the coincident events. Among a number of 001 identification schemes, dual layer phsowich detector has been widely investigated by many research groups due to its practicability and effectiveness on extracting DOI information. However, the effects of each crystal length composing dual layer phoswich detector on DOI measurements and image qualities were not fully characterized. In order to minimize the DOI effect, the length of each layer of phoswich detector should be optimized. The aim of this study was to perform simulations using a simulation tool, GATE to design the optimum lengths of crystals composing a dual layer phoswich detector. The simulated small PET system employed LSO front layer LuYAP back layer phoswich detector modules and the module consisted of 8${\times}$8 arrays of dual layer crystals with 2 mm ${\times}$ 2 mm sensitive area coupled to a Hamamatsu R7600 00 M64 PSPMT. Sensitivities and variation of radial resolutions were simulated by varying the length of LSO front layer from 0 to 10 mm while the total length (LSO + LuYAP) was fixed to 20 mm for 10 cm diameter ring scanner. The radial resolution uniformity was markedly improved by using DOI information. There existed the optimal lengths of crystal layers to minimize the variation of radial resolutions. In 10 cm ring scanner configuration, the radial resolution was kept below 3.4 mm over 8 cm FOV while the sensitivity was higher than 7.4% for LSO 5 mm : LuYAP 15 mm phoswich detector. In this study, the optimal length of dual layer phoswich detector was derived to achieve high and uniform radial resolution.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.338-343
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a small animal PET using dual layer phoswich detector to minimize parallax error that degrades spatial resolution at the outer part of field-of-view (FOV). Materials and Methods: A simulation tool GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission) was used to derive optimal parameters of small PET, and PET was developed employing the parameters. Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate (LSO) and Lutetium-Yttrium Aluminate-Perovskite(LuYAP) was used to construct dual layer phoswitch crystal. $8{\times}8$ arrays of LSO and LuYAP pixels, $2mm{\times}2mm{\times}8mm$ in size, were coupled to a 64-channel position sensitive photomultiplier tube. The system consisted of 16 detector modules arranged to one ring configuration (ring inner diameter 10 cm, FOV of 8 cm). The data from phoswich detector modules were fed into an ADC board in the data acquisition and preprocessing PC via sockets, decoder block, FPGA board, and bus board. These were linked to the master PC that stored the events data on hard disk. Results: In a preliminary test of the system, reconstructed images were obtained by using a pair of detectors and sensitivity and spatial resolution were measured. Spatial resolution was 2.3 mm FWHM and sensitivity was 10.9 $cps/{\mu}Ci$ at the center of FOV. Conclusion: The radioactivity distribution patterns were accurately represented in sinograms and images obtained by PET with a pair of detectors. These preliminary results indicate that it is promising to develop a high performance small animal PET.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2008

Dual scintillator for simultaneous alpha- and beta-ray counting used by detection materials of a surface contamination monitor was developed. In this study, preparation method was not a heat melting method but a solvent method, by which the counting material was manufactured by dissolving the polymer materials with solvent. It was simplified the preparation process. Plastic scintillator for beta-ray counting was prepared by solidifying the casting solution mixed with organic scintillator, polymer, and solvent. ZnS(Ag) scintillator layer was prepared by screen printing the paste solution mixed with ZnS(Ag), paste, and solvent onto the plastic layer. The good counting ability for alpha- and beta-ray using the ZnS(Ag)/plastic dual scintillator prepared and possibility for the counting material of surface contamination monitor was confirmed.