A method and apparatus are provided for positron emission imaging to correct a recorded energy of a detected gamma ray, when the gamma ray is scattered during detection. When scattering occurs, the energy of a single gamma ray can be distributed across multiple detector elementsa multi-channel detection. Nonlinearities in the detection process and charge/light sharing among adjacent channels can result in the summed energies from the multiple crystals of a multi-channel detection deviating from the energy that would be measured in single-channel detection absent scattering. This deviation is corrected by applying one or more correction factors (e.g., multiplicative or additive) that shifts the summed energies of multi-channel detections to agree with a known predefined energy (e.g., 511 keV). The correction factors can be stored in a look-up-table that is segmented to accommodate variations in the multi-channel energy shift based on the level of energy sharing.

A detector module is provided that can be used as part of a time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) system. The detector module comprises a plurality of emitter elements, each emitter element including an emitter composed of a substance that produces scintillation light and/or Cherenkov radiation in response to gamma photons and, coupled to each of two opposing ends of the emitter, a plurality of photodetectors. The height or thickness of the emitters between their coupled photodetectors is less than 20 mm (e.g., 5-15 mm). The photomultipliers may be silicon photomultipliers or SiPMs that have surface areas less than approximately 9 mm.sup.2. Due to the quantity of photodetectors, their operating locations at both ends of each emitter, and the relative thinness of the emitters, the emitter elements and the detector module provide a timing resolution better (lower) than 100 ps full width at half maximum.

Provided are a device for detecting sub-atomic particles and method of fabrication thereof. The device includes a plurality of scintillators, a detector provided on a first end of the plurality of scintillators and a prismatoid provided on a second end of the plurality of scintillators. The prismatoid redirects light between adjacent scintillators of the plurality of scintillators.

The invention concerns a scintillation detector with which high count rates and/or high resolutions are possible. The scintillator of the claimed scintillation detector is formed from pixels (2), which are separated from each other by interstices (4). Alternatively or additionally, the surface of the scintillator is divided by grooves into pixels (2). Such a structure enables not only a particularly high resolution. When multiple detector modules are used, it also allows high count rates in the range of roughly 20 MHz.

A method and an apparatus are provided for using a capacitor chain to perform charge sharing and Anger logic to determine, for charge pulses arising from gamma-ray detection, a row position along an array of scintillation-based gamma-ray detectors. Further, high-pass filters configured at the ends of the capacitor chain perform pulse shaping to preserve timing information. To determine the column position for charge pulses, a two-stage summing amplifier configuration is used with weighting amplifiers controlling the relative gain of the second-stage amplifier with respect to respective columns in the array. Each detector element in the array is a silicon photomultiplier (e.g., Geiger-mode avalanched photodiodes biased above breakdown voltage). Position information can be generated by Anger logic on four outputs from the second-stage amplifiers. Energy and timing information can be generated as a sum of the four outputs from the second-stage amplifiers.

In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, an x-ray image detector for generating signals in response to an x-ray beam is presented. The x-ray image detector comprises two-dimensional (2D) pixel arrays in a single substrate so that signal from every pixel can be simultaneously collected. A layer of x-ray scintillating material is applied in front of the 2D array. A plurality of detector can be arranged as tiled detector arrays using chip on-board technology. When multiple on-board detectors are arranged and mounted on a curve gantry along with X-ray source on the opposite side, the X-ray detector system is therefore can be used for compact, low cost multi slice in-line CT application. Peripheral circuits can be located in the same substrate or in a different substrate to ensure individual detector signal can be read out parallel.

A PET detecting module may include a scintillator array configured to receive a radiation ray and generate optical signals in response to the received radiation ray. The scintillator array may have a plurality of rows of scintillators arranged in a first direction and a plurality of columns of scintillators arranged in a second direction. A first group of light guides may be arranged on a top surface of the scintillator array along the first direction. The light guide count of the first group of light guides may be less than the row count of the plurality of rows of scintillators. A second group of light guides may be arranged on a bottom surface of the scintillator array. The light guide count of the second group of light guides may be less than the column count of the plurality of columns of scintillators.

A radiation position detector includes: a photodetector array constituted of unit-sized unit photodetectors; a scintillator array constituted of a plurality of tetragonal scintillator elements optically connected to the photodetector array, wherein scintillator units are each constituted of a pair of unit scintillators whose individual cross-sectional size of plane facing to right receiving surface is ? of the size of the unit photodetector, where at least part of which is optically connected on a surface side opposite to the right receiving surface, the scintillator units being each arranged so as to be positioned over two of the unit photodetectors; and a position evaluation unit configured to identify the scintillator unit by the presence or absence of a signal and furthermore identify one of the unit scintillators of the scintillator unit on the basis of a strength of the signal, to obtain a two-dimensional radiation detection position.

Improved imaging devices and methods. A portable SPECT imaging device may co-register with imaging modalities such as ultrasound. Gamma camera panels including gamma camera sensors may be connected to a mechanical arm. A coded aperture mask may be placed in front of a gamma-ray photon sensor and used to construct a high-resolution three-dimensional map of radioisotope distributions inside a patient, which can be generated by scanning the patient from a reduced range of directions around the patient and with radiation sensors placed in close proximity to this patient. Increased imaging sensitivity and resolution is provided. The SPECT imaging device can be used to guide medical interventions, such as biopsies and ablation therapies, and can also be used to guide surgeries.

A photon detector includes a sensor array of optical sensors disposed in a plane and four substantially identical scintillation crystal bars. Each optical sensor is configured to sense luminescence. Each of the four scintillator crystal bars being a rectangular prism with four side surfaces and first and second end surfaces, each scintillation bar has two side surfaces which each face a side surface of another scintillation bar, and each scintillation crystal bar generating a light scintillation in response to interacting with a received gamma photon. A first layer (80) is disposed in a first plane disposed between and adjacent facing side surfaces of the four substantially identical scintillation crystal bars with a light sharing portion (82) adjacent the first end surface and a reflective portion (84) adjacent the second end surface. A second layer (68) is disposed in a second plane orthogonal to the first plane and disposed between and adjacent facing side surfaces of the four substantially identical scintillation crystal bars with a light sharing portion (88) adjacent the second end surface and a reflective portion (90) adjacent the first end surface.