Timing limits of ultrafast cross-luminescence emission in CsZnCl-based crystals for TOF-CT and TOF-PET.

Background: Good timing resolution in medical imaging applications such as TOF-CT or TOF-PET can boost image quality or patient comfort significantly by reducing the influence of background noise. However, the timing resolution of state-of-the-art detectors in CT and PET are limited by their light emission process. Core-valence cross-luminescence is an alternative, but well-known compounds (e.

16-channel SiPM high-frequency readout with time-over-threshold discrimination for ultrafast time-of-flight applications.

Background: Over the past five years, ultrafast high-frequency (HF) readout concepts have advanced the timing performance of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). The shown impact in time-of-flight (TOF) techniques can further push the limits in light detection and ranging (LiDAR), time-of-flight positron-emission tomography (TOF-PET), time-of-flight computed tomography (TOF-CT) or high-energy physics (HEP). However, upscaling these electronics to a system-applicable, multi-channel readout, has remained a challenging task, posed by the use of discrete components and a high power consumption.

A time-based double-sided readout concept of 100 mm LYSO:Ce,Ca fibres for future axial TOF-PET.

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) requires a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to improve image quality, with time-of-flight (TOF) being an effective way to boost the SNR. However, the scanner sensitivity and resolution must be maintained. The use of axially aligned 100-mm LYSO:Ce,Ca scintillation crystals with double-sided readout has the potential of ground-breaking TOF and sensitivity, while reducing parallax errors through depth-of-interaction (DOI) estimation, and also allowing a reduction in the number of readout channels required, resulting in cost benefits.

Timing advances of commercial divalent-ion co-doped LYSO:Ce and SiPMs in sub-100 ps time-of-flight positron emission tomography.

Together with novel photodetector technologies and emerging electronic front-end designs, scintillator material research is one of the key aspects to obtain ultra-fast timing in time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). In the late 1990s, Cerium-doped lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO:Ce) has been established as the state-of-the-art PET scintillator due to its fast decay time, high light yield and high stopping power. It has been shown that co-doping with divalent ions, such as Caand Mg, is beneficial for its scintillation characteristics and timing performance.

Prompt-gamma emission in GEANT4 revisited and confronted with experiment.

Purpose: The field of online monitoring of the beam range is one of the most researched topics in proton therapy over the last decade. The development of detectors that can be used for beam range verification under clinical conditions is a challenging task. One promising possible solution are modalities that record prompt-gamma radiation produced by the interactions of the proton beam with the target tissue.