PT Journal AU Etxebeste, A Barrio, J Muñoz, E Oliver, JF Solaz, C Llosa, G TI 3D position determination in monolithic crystals coupled to SiPMs for PET SO Physics in Medicine and Biology JI Phys. Med. Biol. PY 2016 BP 3914 EP 3934 VL 61 IS 10 DI 10.1088/0031-9155/61/10/3914 LA English DE monolithic crystal; silicon photomultiplier; depth of interaction AB 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. ER