An innovative detection module concept for PET

The design of a Positron Emission Tomography detection module capable of working inside a Magnetic Resonant Imaging system is the main objective of the 4D-MPET project. Combining the two imaging technologies offers better soft tissue contrast and lower radiation doses by providing both functional and morphological information at the same time. The proposed detector will feature a three-dimensional architecture based on two tiles of Silicon Photomultipliers coupled to a single LYSO scintillator on both its faces. Silicon Photomultipliers are magnetic-field compatible photo-detectors with a very small size enabling novel detector geometries that allow the measurement of the Depth of Interaction as well as a high detector packing fraction to maximize system sensitivity. Furthermore they can be fabricated using standard silicon technology, have a large gain in the order of 106 and are very fast thus allowing evaluating the Time of Flight. Among the other features of the proposed detection system, the architecture of the innovative readout electronics will be also described which plays a relevant role for the achievement of the desired performance and is based on custom integrated circuits. Simulation results of the whole system show good performance in terms of time and spatial resolution: a timestamp of 100 ps is the ultimate performance achievable with the use of a double threshold technique along with fast electronics. Time over threshold is exploited to provide the energy information with a bin size of 400 ps. Moreover, a z resolution of 1.4 mm Full Width at Half Maximum can be achieved. The proposed detector can also be exploited in other tracking applications, such as High Energy Physics and Astrophysics.