Count rate performance study of the Lausanne ClearPET scanner demonstrator

This paper presents the count rate measurements obtained with the Lausanne partial ring ClearPET scanner demonstrator and compares them against GATE Monte Carlo simulations. For the present detector setup, a maximum single event count rate of 1.1 Mcps is measured or a 250–750 keV energy window. This corresponds to a coincidence count rate of approximately 22 kcps. Good agreements are observed between measured and simulated data. Count rate performance, including Noise Equivalent Count (NEC) curves, are determined and extrapolated for a full ring ClearPET design using GATE Monte Carlo simulations. For a full ring design with three rings of detector modules, NEC is peaking at about 70 kcps for 20 MBq.