Preliminary study for pixel identification on a modular gamma camera

Abstract Our group has recently investigated and produced new scintigraphic prototypes based on advanced scintillation structure. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the use of scintillation matrices with size equal to the overall area of the Position Sensitive Photomultiplier Tube (PSPMT), to design a modular gamma camera and study the solution of the dead area problems optimizing the overall pixel identification. In this paper we investigate the response of different combinations with crystals integrated within tungsten structure, coupled with H8500, R8900-C12 and R11265-M64 Hamamatsu PSPMTs. Several scintillation matrices, whose dimensions match to the physical area of the PSPMT, have been analysed so that we have also studied limits of detection for the elements of the matrix in the critical zones of the PSPMT, i.e. corners and borders. In order to enhance the detectability of scintillation elements we improved the light collection by depositing metallic layers or treating the tungsten structure with different coating materials, and shaping the external elements of the scintillation matrices. The results have shown good energy resolution and the proposed method can be applied in medical imaging for obtaining high efficiency scintillation devices.