Optimizing light collection from thin scintillators used in a beta-ray camera for surgical use
- Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
The authors are developing a 1--2 cm{sup 2} 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. The authors report here on efforts made to optimize the light collection from <3 mm thick plastic and CaF{sub 2}(Eu) disk coupled to a 5 cm long bundle of clear optical fibers, on average, {approximately}250 photoelectrons are produced at a PMT photocathode for a {sup 204}Tl beta flood source (E{sub max} = 763 keV). This corresponds to a sufficient number of photoelectrons for <1 mm resolution imaging capabilities for the proposed camera.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC03-87ER60615
- OSTI ID:
- 267978
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951073--
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Journal Issue: 3Pt2 Vol. 43; ISSN 0018-9499; ISSN IETNAE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Characterization of fluor concentration and geometry in organic scintillators for in situ beta imaging
Collection of scintillation light from small BGO crystals