HIGH RESOLUTION GAMMA CAMERA

摘要

The invention described refers to a new Gamma Camera for gamma ray imaging applications, for example in Nuclear Medicine. The new Gamma Camera has an inorganic scintillation crystal (2), whose larger area surfaces are covered by wavelength shifting optical fibres (1). A gamma ray interaction within the crystal leads to the generation of a scintillation light pulse spatially confined. The fibres absorb the scintillation light and subsequently re-emit photons isotropically, with an emission spectrum different from its absorption spectrum. A fraction of the re-emitted photons is trapped within the fibres and channeled along its axis to be detected by silicon photomultipliers (Si-PMT) which are optically coupled to the ends of the fibres (3). The signals of the Si-PMTs, after electronic amplification and digitization, are used to calculate the center of gravity of the light signal detected, and thus estimate the position of interaction of the gamma rays within the crystal. The invention has applications in Nuclear Medicine and industrial applications for spatial mapping of gamma ray radiation.