The advent of new detector technologies, such as Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), and advances in understanding the statistics of scintillation light, are helping achieve improved energy, time, and spatial resolution with scintillation-based detector systems. We have led and collaborated on research efforts that provide insights, and assist the incorporation of novel technologies into new imaging systems. For example, we were one of the first to design a rigorous and comprehensive method to simulate the response to SiPMs to scintillation light. The method quantified the effect of various processes such as saturation and noise on SiPM performance. Similarly, we demonstrated that the Fano factor of scintillation light effects the energy resolution of nuclear-medicine imaging systems.
References:
- A. K. Jha, H. T. van Dam, M. A. Kupinski and E. Clarkson, “Simulating Silicon photomultiplier response to scintillation light”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 60(1), 336-51, 2013 PMCID: PMC4519993
- V. Bora, H. H. Barrett, A. K. Jha, and E. Clarkson, “Impact of Fano factor on position and energy estimation in scintillation detectors”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 99, pp. 11-15, 2015. PMCID: PMC4625574