Depth of interaction resolution of LuAP and LYSO crystals

The Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC) has built a prototype of a novel positron emission tomograph dedicated to functional breast imaging, the ClearPEM. One aim of the ClearPEM is to be able to depict small tumours with a diameter of 2–3 mm in the breast and axilla region.To achieve such a spatial resolution one needs to know the position of the photon interaction in the crystal—the depth of interaction (DOI) with a precision of a least 2 mm. The main component of the detector are 20 mm long LYSO crystals read out at both ends with avalanche photo diodes (APD). The method to determine the DOI in the ClearPEM is via light sharing between the two end faces of the crystal.In this work 20 mm long LuAP and LYSO crystals were used to study the spatial resolution of the DOI in the crystal. The influence of the surface state (polished and unpolished) and wrapping on the DOI resolution and the light yield were also investigated.