Optimizing light collection from thin scintillators used in a beta-ray camera for surgical use
We are developing a 1-2 cm2 area camera for imaging the distribution of beta-emitting radiopharmaceuticals at the surface of tissue exposed during surgery. The front end consists of a very thin continuous or segmented scintillator sensitive to betas (positrons or electrons) of a few hundred keV, yet insensitive to gamma rays. The light from the scintillator is piped through clear fibers to the photon detector (PD). This approach requires that a sufficient number of scintillation photons be transported from the scintillator, through the fibers to the PD. The scintillator. reflector, surface treatments, geometry, fiber light guides, and optical couplings must be optimized. We report here on efforts made to optimize the light collection from < 3 mm thick plastic and CaF2(Eu) scintillators into clear fibers using experimental measurements and computer simulations. We measured that with a 1.25 cm diameter, 0.5 mm thick optimized CaF2(Eu) disk coupled to a 5 cm long bundle of clear optical fibers, on average, ∼250 photoelectrons are produced at a PMT photocathode for a 204Tl beta flood source (Emax = 763 keV). This corresponds to a sufficient number of photoelectrons for ∼ 1 mm resolution imaging capabilities for the proposed camera. © 1996 IEEE.
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- Nuclear & Particles Physics
- 5106 Nuclear and plasma physics
- 0903 Biomedical Engineering
- 0299 Other Physical Sciences
- 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics
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Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Nuclear & Particles Physics
- 5106 Nuclear and plasma physics
- 0903 Biomedical Engineering
- 0299 Other Physical Sciences
- 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics