IMAGING DEVICE AND METHOD

摘要

There is provided an imaging device comprising a plurality of photodetectors in a predetermined spatial arrangement. Each photodetector is connected to a different predetermined pair of first and second readout channels so that the spatial position of an active photodetector can be determined from the corresponding pair of active readout channels. The number of readout channels is less than the number of photodetectors. For each photodetector its first readout channel is shared with a first plurality of other photodetectors of the arrangement, and its second readout channel is shared with a second plurality of other photodetectors of the arrangement. A first option is that the second plurality is greater than the first plurality for at least some of the photodetectors, with the position of an event occurring at one of the photodetectors being determined from the active first and second readout channels, and with the energy and/or timing of the event being determined from the active firstreadout channel. A second option is that at least some of those photodetectors sharing the same first channel are not adjacent in the arrangement. A third option is that the photodetectors are silicon photomultiplier detectors. The first to third options can be used separately, in isolation, or in any combination.