In time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF PET) one of the main factors limiting the time resolution is the time evolution of the scintillation process. This can be avoided by using exclusively the Cherenkov light produced in a suitable material. Sub 100 ps FWHM timing has already been experimentally demonstrated but with a drawback of relatively low detection efficiency due to the photodetectors used. In this work silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are considered as a photodetector in Cherenkov TOF PET. The detection efficiency can be significantly improved by using SiPMs, however, at room temperature the SiPM dark counts introduce a significant source of fake coincidences. SiPM samples from different producers were tested in a simple back-to-back setup in combination with lead fluoride Cherenkov radiators. Results for coincidence timing, detection efficiency and effects of dark counts at different temperatures and SiPM overvoltages are presented.
. 2015 May 18;2(Suppl 1):A1. doi: 10.1186/2197-7364-2-S1-A1
The performance of silicon photomultipliers in Cherenkov TOF PET
Rok Dolenec
1,✉, Samo Korpar
1, Peter Krizan
2, Rok Pestotink
2
Rok Dolenec
1Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
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Samo Korpar
1Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Find articles by Samo Korpar
1Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
2Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
✉
Corresponding author.
Conference
PSMR 2015: 4th Conference on PET/MR and SPECT/MR
La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Italy
17-21 May 2015
Collection date 2015 Dec.
© Dolenec et al; licensee Springer. 2015
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
PMCID: PMC4798661 PMID: 26956264