Development of a prototype scintillator-based portable γ-ray imager with coded aperture for intraoperative applications

In surgical treatment, the intraoperative detection of tissues is becoming important in order to localize malignant functionality. Visual inspection, which is mostly used, results in lower contrast whereas dual inspection with radio and optical sensors is more promising for accurate detection. A scintillator-based portable gamma-ray imager with a coded aperture has been designed and fabricated for exploring the use of coded-aperture imaging in intraoperative applications. The gamma-ray detector is composed of a 12×12 array of 2×2×10 mm3 Ce:GAGG (Ce doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12) crystals individually coupled to a 12×12 avalanche photodiode (APD) array. The APDs are individually read out using a custom-designed readout system using a time-over-threshold application-specific integrated circuit and field-programmable gate array. The coded aperture consists of M-array based holes of 0.5 mm size on a 0.3-mm thickness tungsten collimator. The imaging performance in the x, y, and z directions is measured and characterized for 122-keV gamma rays.