• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.353-355
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• 1997

A single molecule detection system, which consists of confocal fluorescence microscope and single photon counter, has been used to observe the dye concentration dependence of photon counting rate. With increasing concentration, a saturation effect of counting is observed and demonstrated on the basis of the dead time of photon detector. The equations presented here show the relations between the counting rate and some parameters such as probe volume, quantum efficiency of detector, and fluorescence photon number entered onto detector. The signal-to-noise ratio is also discussed briefly.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.854-865
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• 2022

Photon-counting detector (PCD) CT is a new CT technology utilizing a direct conversion X-ray detector, where incident X-ray photon energies are directly recorded as electronical signals. The design of the photon-counting detector itself facilitates improvements in spatial resolution (via smaller detector pixel design) and iodine signal (via count weighting) while still permitting multi-energy imaging. PCD-CT can eliminate electronic noise and reduce artifacts due to the use of energy thresholds. Improved dose efficiency is important for low dose CT and pediatric imaging. The ultra-high spatial resolution of PCD-CT design permits lower dose scanning for all body regions and is particularly helpful in identifying important imaging findings in thoracic and musculoskeletal CT. Improved iodine signal may be helpful for low contrast tasks in abdominal imaging. Virtual monoenergetic images and material classification will assist with numerous diagnostic tasks in abdominal, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular imaging. Dual-source PCD-CT permits multi-energy CT images of the heart and coronary arteries at high temporal resolution. In this special review article, we review the clinical benefits of this technology across a wide variety of radiological subspecialties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.929-934
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• 2018

Studies for counting and detecting X-rays for the improvement of image quality and material analysis are active. In this work, the detector for X-ray photon counting was designed using Multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) array and the detector characteristics were evaluated through simulation. Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) was used to obtain the position where the X-ray and the scintillation interacted, and this position was used as the light generation position of DETECT2000. 0.5 mm and 1 mm thick Gadolinium Aluminium Gallium Garnet (GAGG) scintillators were used and the light generated through a $4{\times}4$ array of MPPCs was acquired. The spatial resolution of the designed detector was evaluated by reconstructed image using the light signal acquired for each channel. We obtained images of more than 2 lp/mm in both 0.5 mm and 1 mm thick GAGG scintillation. When this detector is used in a X-ray system, a low-cost system capable of photon counting can be made.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.776-780
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• 2017

To avoid imaging artifacts and interpretation mistakes, an improvement of the uniformity in gamma camera systems is a very important point. We can expect excellent uniformity using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) photon counting detector (PCD) because of the direct conversion of the gamma rays energy into electrons. In addition, the uniformity performance such as integral uniformity (IU), differential uniformity (DU), scatter fraction (SF), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) varies according to the energy window setting. In this study, we compared a PCD and conventional scintillation detector with respect to the energy windows (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) using a $^{99m}Tc$ gamma source with a Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission simulation tool. The gamma camera systems used in this work are a CZT PCD and NaI(Tl) conventional scintillation detector with a 1-mm thickness. According to the results, although the IU and DU results were improved with the energy window, the SF and CNR results deteriorated with the energy window. In particular, the uniformity for the PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector in all cases. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the uniformity of the CZT PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.165-166
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• 2009

A hologram was recorded with two-dimensional scanning of an optical fiber connected to a single-photon counting detector under ultra-weak illumination. The object image was clearly reconstructed in a computer from the hologram. The dependence of hologram quality on the illumination light intensity was estimated.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.947-948
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• 2023

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3380-3389
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• 2022

We evaluated the performance of an improved hybrid median filter (IHMF) applied to X-ray computed tomography (CT) images obtained using a high-resolution photon-counting cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. To study how the proposed approach improves the image quality, we measured the noise levels and the overall CT-image quality. We established a CZT imaging system with a detector length of 5.12 cm and thickness of 0.3 cm and acquired phantom images. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed filter, we first modeled two conventional median filters. Subsequently, we were able to achieve a normalized noise power spectrum result of ~10^-8 mm², and furthermore, the proposed method improved the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of ~1.51 and the coefficient of variation by 1.55 relative to the counterpart values of the no-filter image. In addition, the IHMF exhibited the best performance among the three filters considered as regards the peak signal-to-noise ratio and no-reference-based image-quality evaluation parameters. Thus, our results demonstrate that the IHMF approach provides a superior image performance over conventional median filtering methods when applied to actual CZT X-ray CT images.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.21-33
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• 2020

Single photon detector technologies have emerged as powerful tools in optical quantum information applications such as quantum communication, quantum information, and integrated quantum photonics. Owing to significant attempts in the previous decade at improving photon-counting detectors, several single photon detectors with high efficiency and low noise have been realized within the optical wavelength regime. In this paper, we provide an overview of current studies on single photon detectors operating at wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the infrared. In addition, we discuss applications of single photon detector technologies in quantum communication and integrated quantum photonics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.32-32
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• 2008

X-ray detector는 의료용, 산업용 등 다양한 분야에서 사용되어지고 있으며 기존의 Analog X-ray 방식의 환경오염, 저장공간 부족, 실시간 분석의 어려움 등의 문제점들을 해결하기 위하여 Digital X-ray로의 전환과 연구가 활발하며 이에 따른 관심도 높아지고 있는 살점이다. Digital X-ray detector는 p-영역과 n-영역 사이에 아무런 불순물을 도핑하지 않은 진성반도체(intrinsic semiconductor) 층을 접합시킨 이종접합 PIN 구조의 photodiode 이다. 이 소자는 역바이어스를 가해주면 p영역과 n영역 사이에서 캐리어 (carrier)가 존재하지 않는 공핍 영역이 발생하게 된다. 이런 공핍 영역에서 광흡수가 일어나면, 전자-정공 쌍이 발생한다. 그리고, 발생한 전자-정공 쌍에 전압이 역방향으로 인가되는 경우, 전자는 양의 전극으로 이동하고, 정공은 음의 전극으로 이동한다. 이와 같이, 발생한 캐리어들을 검출하여 전기적인 신호로 변환 시킨다. 고해상도의 Digital X-ray detector를 만들기 위해서는 누설전류에 의한 noise 감소와 소자의 높은 안정성과 내구성을 위한 높은 breakdown voltage를 가져야 한다. 본 연구에서는 Digital X-ray detector의 leakage current 감소와 breakdown voltage를 높이기 위하여 guradring과 gettering technology를 사용하여 전기적 특성을 분석하였다. 기판으로는 $10k\Omega{\cdot}cm$ resistivity를 갖으며, n-type <111>인 1mm 두께의 4인치 Si wafer를 사용하였다. 그리고 pixel pitch는 $100{\mu}m$이며 active area는 $80{\mu}m{\times}80{\mu}m$인 $32\times32$ array를 형성하여 X-ray를 조사하여 소자의 특성을 평가 하였다.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.105-110
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• 2016

Sparse angular sampling has been studied recently owing to its potential to decrease the radiation exposure from computed tomography (CT). In this study, we investigated the analytic reconstruction algorithm in sparse angular sampling using the sinogram interpolation method for improving image quality and computation speed. A prototype of the spectral CT system, which has a 64-pixel Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT)-based photon-counting detector, was used. The source-to-detector distance and the source-to-center of rotation distance were 1,200 and 1,015 mm, respectively. Two energy bins (23~33 keV and 34~44 keV) were set to obtain two reconstruction images. We used a PMMA phantom with height and radius of 50.0 mm and 17.5 mm, respectively. The phantom contained iodine, gadolinium, calcification, and lipid. The Feld-kamp-Davis-Kress (FDK) with the sinogram interpolation method and Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (MLEM) algorithm were used to reconstruct the images. We evaluated the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the materials. The SNRs of iodine, calcification, and liquid lipid were increased by 167.03%, 157.93%, and 41.77%, respectively, with the 23~33 keV energy bin using the sinogram interpolation method. The SNRs of iodine, calcification, and liquid state lipid were also increased by 107.01%, 13.58%, and 27.39%, respectively, with the 34~44 keV energy bin using the sinogram interpolation method. Although the FDK algorithm with the sinogram interpolation did not produce better results than the MLEM algorithm, it did result in comparable image quality to that of the MLEM algorithm. We believe that the sinogram interpolation method can be applied in various reconstruction studies using the analytic reconstruction algorithm. Therefore, the sinogram interpolation method can improve the image quality in sparse-angular sampling and be applied to CT applications.