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Llosa, G., Barrio, J., Cabello, J., Crespo, A., Lacasta, C., Rafecas, M., et al. (2012). Detector characterization and first coincidence tests of a Compton telescope based on LaBr3 crystals and SiPMs. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 695, 105–108.
Abstract: A Compton telescope for dose monitoring in hadron therapy consisting of several layers of continuous LaBr3 crystals coupled to silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays is under development within the ENVISION project. In order to test the possibility of employing such detectors for the telescope, a detector head consisting of a continuous 16 mm x 18 mm x 5 mm LaBr3 crystal coupled to a SiPM array has been assembled and characterized, employing the SPIROC1 ASIC as readout electronics. The best energy resolution obtained at 511 key is 6.5% FWHM and the timing resolution is 3.1 ns FWHM. A position determination method for continuous crystals is being tested, with promising results. In addition, the detector has been operated in time coincidence with a second detector layer, to determine the coincidence capabilities of the system. The first tests are satisfactory, and encourage the development of larger detectors that will compose the telescope prototype.
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Llosa, G., Barrio, J., Lacasta, C., Callier, S., Raux, L., & de La Taille, C. (2011). First tests in the application of silicon photomultiplier arrays to dose monitoring in hadron therapy. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 648, S96–S99.
Abstract: A detector head composed of a continuous LaBr3 crystal coupled to a silicon photomultiplier array has been mounted and tested, for its use in a Compton telescope for dose monitoring in hadron therapy. The LaBr3 crystal has 16 mm x 18 mm x 5 mm size, and it is surrounded with reflecting material in five faces. The SiPM array has 16 (4 x 4) elements of 3 mm x 3 mm size. The SPIROC1 ASIC has been employed as readout electronics. The detector shows a linear behavior up to 1275 keV. The energy resolution obtained at 511 keV is 7% FWHM, and it varies as one over the square root of the energy up to the energies tested. The variations among the detector channels are within 12%. A preliminary measurement of the timing resolution gives 7 ns FWHM. The spatial resolution obtained with the center of gravity method is 1.2 mm FWHM. The tests performed confirm the correct functioning of the detector.
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Llosa, G., Barrillon, P., Barrio, J., Bisogni, M. G., Cabello, J., Del Guerra, A., et al. (2013). High performance detector head for PET and PET/MR with continuous crystals and SiPMs. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 702, 3–5.
Abstract: A high resolution PET detector head for small animal PET applications has been developed. The detector is composed of a 12 mm x 12 mm continuous LYSO crystal coupled to a 64-channel monolithic SiPM matrix from FBK-irst. Crystal thicknesses of 5 mm and 10 mm have been tested, both yielding an intrinsic spatial resolution around 0.7 mm FWHM with a position determination algorithm that can also provide depth-of-interaction information. The detectors have been tested in a rotating system that makes it possible to acquire tomographic data and reconstruct images of Na-22 sources. An image reconstruction method specifically adapted for continuous crystals has been employed. The Full Width at Half Maximum measured from a point source reconstructed with ML-EM was 0.7 mm with the 5 mm crystal and 0.8 mm with the 10 mm crystal.
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Scandale, W. et al, & Lari, L. (2013). Optimization of the crystal assisted collimation of the SPS beam. Phys. Lett. B, 726(1-3), 182–186.
Abstract: The possibility for optimization of crystal assisted collimation has been studied at the CERN SPS for stored beams of protons and Pb ions with 270 GeV/c per unit charge. A bent silicon crystal used as a primary collimator deflects halo particles in the channeling regime, directing them into a tungsten absorber. In channeling conditions a strong reduction of off-momentum particle numbers produced in the crystal and absorber, which form collimation leakage, has been observed in the first high dispersion (HD) area downstream. The present study shows that the collimation leakage is minimal for some values of the absorber offset relative to the crystal. The optimal offset value is larger for Pb ions because of their considerably larger ionization losses in the crystal, which cause large increases of particle betatron oscillation amplitudes. The optimal absorber offset allows obtaining maximal efficiency of crystal-assisted collimation.
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Gillam, J. E., Solevi, P., Oliver, J. F., Casella, C., Heller, M., Joram, C., et al. (2014). Sensitivity recovery for the AX-PET prototype using inter-crystal scattering events. Phys. Med. Biol., 59(15), 4065–4083.
Abstract: The development of novel detection devices and systems such as the AX-positron emission tomography (PET) demonstrator often introduce or increase the measurement of atypical coincidence events such as inter-crystal scattering (ICS). In more standard systems, ICS events often go undetected and the small measured fraction may be ignored. As the measured quantity of such events in the data increases, so too does the importance of considering them during image reconstruction. Generally, treatment of ICS events will attempt to determine which of the possible candidate lines of response (LoRs) correctly determine the annihilation photon trajectory. However, methods of assessment often have low success rates or are computationally demanding. In this investigation alternative approaches are considered. Experimental data was taken using the AX-PET prototype and a NEMA phantom. Three methods of ICS treatment were assessed-each of which considered all possible candidate LoRs during image reconstruction. Maximum likelihood expectation maximization was used in conjunction with both standard (line-like) and novel (V-like in this investigation) detection responses modeled within the system matrix. The investigation assumed that no information other than interaction locations was available to distinguish between candidates, yet the methods assessed all provided means by which such information could be included. In all cases it was shown that the signal to noise ratio is increased using ICS events. However, only one method, which used full modeling of the ICS response in the system matrix-the V-like model-provided enhancement in all figures of merit assessed in this investigation. Finally, the optimal method of ICS incorporation was demonstrated using data from two small animals measured using the AX-PET demonstrator.
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Scandale, W. et al, & Lari, L. (2014). Deflection of high energy protons by multiple volume reflections in a modified multi-strip silicon deflector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B, 338, 108–111.
Abstract: The effect of multiple volume reflections in one crystal was observed in each of several bent silicon strips for 400 GeV/c protons. This considerably increased the particle deflections. Some particles were also deflected due to channeling in one of the subsequent strips. As a result, the incident beam was strongly spread because of opposite directions of the deflections. A modified multi-strip deflector produced by periodic grooves on the surface of a thick silicon plate was used for these measurements. This technique provides perfect mutual alignment between crystal strips. Such multi-strip deflector may be effective for collider beam halo collimation and a study is planned at the CERN SPS circulating beam.
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Scandale, W. et al, & Lari, L. (2015). Observation of nuclear dechanneling length reduction for high energy protons in a short bent crystal. Phys. Lett. B, 743, 440–443.
Abstract: Deflection of 400 GeV/c protons by a short bent silicon crystal was studied at the CERN SPS. It was shown that the dechanneling probability increases while the dechanneling length decreases with an increase of incident angles of particles relative to the crystal planes. The observation of the dechanneling length reduction provides evidence of the particle population increase at the top levels of transverse energies in the potential well of the planar channels. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Cabello, J., Etxebeste, A., Llosa, G., & Ziegler, S. I. (2015). Simulation study of PET detector limitations using continuous crystals. Phys. Med. Biol., 60(9), 3673–3694.
Abstract: Continuous crystals can potentially obtain better intrinsic detector spatial resolution compared to pixelated crystals, additionally providing depth of interaction (DoI) information from the light distribution. To achieve high performance sophisticated interaction position estimation algorithms are required. There are a number of algorithms in the literature applied to different crystal dimensions and different photodetectors. However, the different crystal properties and photodetector array geometries have an impact on the algorithm performance. In this work we analysed, through Monte Carlo simulations, different combinations of realistic crystals and photodetector parameters to better understand their influence on the interaction position estimation accuracy, with special emphasis on the DoI. We used an interaction position estimation based on an analytical model for the present work. Different photodetector granulation schemes were investigated. The impact of the number of crystal faces readout by photodetectors was studied by simulating scenarios with one and two photodetectors. In addition, crystals with different levels of reflection and aspect ratios (AR) were analysed. Results showed that the impact of photodetector granularity is mainly shown near the edges and specially in the corners of the crystal. The resulting intrinsic spatial resolution near the centre with a 12 x 12 x 10 mm(3) LYSO crystal was 0.7-0.9 mm, while the average spatial resolution calculated on the entire crystal was 0.77 +/- 0.18 mm for all the simulated geometries with one and two photodetectors. Having front and back photodetectors reduced the DoI bias (Euclidean distance between estimated DoI and real DoI) and improved the transversal resolution near the corners. In scenarios with one photodetector, small AR resulted in DoI inaccuracies for absorbed events at the entrance of the crystal. These inaccuracies were slightly reduced either by increasing the AR or reducing the amount of reflected light, and highly mitigated using two photodetectors. Using one photodetector, we obtained a piecewise DoI error model with a DoI resolution of 0.4-0.9 mm for a 1.2 AR crystal, and we observed that including a second photodetector or reducing the amount of reflections reduced the DoI bias but did not significantly improve the DoI resolution. Translating the piecewise DoI error model obtained in this study to image reconstruction we obtained a spatial resolution variability of 0.39 mm using 85% of the FoV, compared to 2.59 mm and 1.87 mm without DoI correction or with a dual layer system, respectively.
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Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2015). The quantum, the geon and the crystal. Int. J. Mod. Phys. D, 24(9), 1542013–15pp.
Abstract: Effective geometries arising from a hypothetical discrete structure of spacetime can play an important role in the understanding of the gravitational physics beyond General Relativity (GR). To discuss this question, we make use of lessons from crystalline systems within solid state physics, where the presence of defects in the discrete microstructure of the crystal determine the kind of effective geometry needed to properly describe the system in the macroscopic continuum limit. In this work, we study metric-affine theories with nonmetricity and torsion, which are the gravitational analog of crystalline structures with point defects and dislocations. We consider a crystal-motivated gravitational action and show the presence of topologically nontrivial structures (wormholes) supported by an electromagnetic field. Their existence has important implications for the quantum foam picture and the effective gravitational geometries. We discuss how the dialogue between solid state physics systems and modified gravitational theories can provide useful insights on both sides.
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Etxebeste, A., Barrio, J., Muñoz, E., Oliver, J. F., Solaz, C., & Llosa, G. (2016). 3D position determination in monolithic crystals coupled to SiPMs for PET. Phys. Med. Biol., 61(10), 3914–3934.
Abstract: The interest in using continuous monolithic crystals in positron emission tomography (PET) has grown in the last years. Coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), the detector can combine high sensitivity and high resolution, the two main factors to be maximized in a positron emission tomograph. In this work, the position determination capability of a detector comprised of a 12 x 12 x 10 mm(3) LYSO crystal coupled to an 8 x 8-pixel array of SiPMs is evaluated. The 3D interaction position of.-rays is estimated using an analytical model of the light distribution including reflections on the facets of the crystal. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to evaluate different crystal reflectors and geometries. The method has been characterized and applied to different cases. Intrinsic resolution obtained with the position estimation method used in this work, applied to experimental data, achieves sub-millimetre resolution values. Average resolution over the detector surface for 5 mm thick crystal is similar to 0.9 mm FWHM and similar to 1.2 mm FWHM for 10 mm thick crystal. Depth of interaction resolution is close to 2 mm FWHM in both cases, while the FWTM is similar to 5.3 mm for 5 mm thick crystal and similar to 9.6 mm for 10 mm thick crystal.
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