Coincidence timing analysis of APD based PET detectors

The Siemens MI PET research program is investigating scintillation detectors based on relatively new solid-state avalanche photo diode (APD) technology. The relatively slow rise time of APDs compared to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), combined with large numbers of lines of response (LOR) requires higher statistics, and therefore computational time to properly characterize than previous systems. The method presented parallelizes previously developed algorithms, and explores new techniques to characterize the results.