Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Key Laboratory of Particle & Radiation Imaging, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100084, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Jan 13;23(2):953. doi: 10.3390/s23020953.
(1) Background: Gamma cameras have wide applications in industry, including nuclear power plant monitoring, emergency response, and homeland security. The desirable properties of a gamma camera include small weight, good resolution, large field of view (FOV), and wide imageable source energy range. Compton cameras can have a 4π FOV but have limited sensitivity at low energy. Coded-aperture gamma cameras are operatable at a wide photon energy range but typically have a limited FOV and increased weight due to the thick heavy metal collimators and shielding. In our lab, we previously proposed a 4π-view gamma imaging approach with a 3D position-sensitive detector, with which each detector element acts as the collimator for other detector elements. We presented promising imaging performance for 99mTc, 18F, and 137Cs sources. However, the imaging performance for middle- and high-energy sources requires further improvement. (2) Methods: In this study, we present a new gamma camera design to achieve satisfactory imaging performance in a wide gamma energy range. The proposed gamma camera consists of interspaced bar-shaped GAGG (Ce) crystals and tungsten absorbers. The metal bars enhance collimation for high-energy gamma photons without sacrificing the FOV. We assembled a gamma camera prototype and conducted experiments to evaluate the gamma camera’s performance for imaging 57Co, 137Cs, and 60Co point sources. (3) Results: Results show that the proposed gamma camera achieves a positioning accuracy of <3° for all gamma energies. It can clearly resolve two 137Cs point sources with 10° separation, two 57Co and two 60Co point sources with 20° separation, as well as a 2 × 3 137Cs point-source array with 20° separation. (4) Conclusions: We conclude that the proposed gamma camera design has comprehensive merits, including portability, 4π-view FOV, and good angular resolution across a wide energy range. The presented approach has promising potential in nuclear security applications.
(1)背景:伽马相机在工业中有广泛的应用,包括核电站监测、应急响应和国土安全。伽马相机的理想特性包括重量轻、分辨率好、视场大(FOV)和宽的可成像源能量范围。康普顿相机可以有 4π FOV,但在低能量下灵敏度有限。编码孔径伽马相机可在宽光子能量范围内操作,但由于厚重金属准直器和屏蔽,通常 FOV 有限且重量增加。在我们的实验室中,我们之前提出了一种具有 3D 位置灵敏探测器的 4π 视图伽马成像方法,其中每个探测器元件充当其他探测器元件的准直器。我们展示了对 99mTc、18F 和 137Cs 源的有前途的成像性能。然而,中高能源的成像性能需要进一步提高。
(2)方法:在这项研究中,我们提出了一种新的伽马相机设计,以在宽伽马能量范围内实现令人满意的成像性能。所提出的伽马相机由间隔的条状 GAGG(Ce)晶体和钨吸收体组成。金属条增强了高能伽马光子的准直,而不会牺牲 FOV。我们组装了一个伽马相机原型,并进行了实验以评估该伽马相机对 57Co、137Cs 和 60Co 点源成像的性能。
(3)结果:结果表明,所提出的伽马相机在所有伽马能量下都能实现<3°的定位精度。它可以清楚地分辨出两个相距 10°的 137Cs 点源、两个相距 20°的 57Co 和 60Co 点源以及一个相距 20°的 2×3 137Cs 点源阵列。
(4)结论:我们得出结论,所提出的伽马相机设计具有便携性、4π 视场和宽能量范围内良好的角分辨率等综合优点。所提出的方法在核安全应用中具有广阔的应用前景。