A hand-held beta imaging probe for FDG.

Objectives: Advances in radiopharmaceuticals and clinical understanding have escalated the use of intraoperative gamma probes in surgery. However, most probes on the market are non-imaging gamma probes that suffer from the lack of ancillary information of the surveyed tissue area. We have developed a novel, hand-held digital Imaging Beta Probe™ (IBP™) to be used in surgery in conjunction with beta-emitting radiopharmaceuticals such as (18)FDG, (131)I and (32)P for real-time imaging of a surveyed area with higher spatial resolution and sensitivity and greater convenience than existing instruments.

Growth and Characterization of Polycrystalline Lanthanide Halide Scintillators.

We are exploring a novel time- and cost-efficient approach to produce robust, large-volume polycrystalline lanthanide halide scintillators using a hot wall evaporation (HWE) technique. To date, we have fabricated LaBr:Ce and LaCl:Ce films (slabs) measuring up to 7 cm in diameter and 7+ mm in thickness (20 to 25 cm in volume) on quartz substrates. These polycrystalline scintillators exhibit very bright emissions approaching those exhibited by their melt-grown crystal counterparts.

Modular high frame rate detector for synchrotron applications.

The development of detectors often lags the development in X-ray sources. However, advanced detectors are critical for fully utilizing and exploiting the capabilities of the new bright sources. We report on the development of a modular high frame rate detector for synchrotron applications such as small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS).

Low-Afterglow CsI:Tl microcolumnar films for small animal high-speed microCT.

Dedicated high-speed microCT systems are being developed for noninvasive screening of small animals. Such systems require scintillators with high spatial resolution, high light yield, and minimal persistence to ensure ghost free imaging. Unfortunately, the afterglow associated with conventional CsI:Tl microcolumnar films used in current high-speed systems introduces image lag, leading to substantial artifacts in reconstructed images, especially when the detector is operated at several hundreds of frames per second.