New design of a quasi-monolithic detector module with DOI capability for small animal pet

We report a new design of a detector module with depth of interaction (DOI) based on a quasi-monolithic LSO crystal, a multi-channel sensor, and maximum-likelihood position-estimation (MLPE) algorithm. Light transport and detection were modeled in a quasi-monolithic crystal using DETECT2000 code, with lookup tables (LUTs) built by simulation. Events were well separated by applying the MLPE method within 2.0 mm spatial resolution in both trans-axial and DOI directions. These results demonstrate that the proposed detector provides dependable positioning capability for small animal positron emission tomography (PET).