Handy Compton camera using 3D position-sensitive scintillators coupled with large-area monolithic MPPC arrays

The release of radioactive isotopes (mainly 137Cs, 134Cs and 131I) from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant remains a serious problem in Japan. To help identify radiation hotspots and ensure effective decontamination operation, we are developing a novel Compton camera weighting only 1 kg and measuring just ∼10cm2 in size. Despite its compactness, the camera realizes a wide 180° field of vision with a sensitivity about 50 times superior to other cameras being tested in Fukushima. We expect that a hotspot producing a 5μSv/h dose at a distance of 3 m can be imaged every 10 s, with angular resolution better than 10° (FWHM). The 3D position-sensitive scintillators and thin monolithic MPPC arrays are the key technologies developed here. By measuring the pulse-height ratio of MPPC-arrays coupled at both ends of a Ce:GAGG scintillator block, the depth of interaction (DOI) is obtained for incident gamma rays as well as the usual 2D positions, with accuracy better than 2 mm. By using two identical 10 mm cubic Ce:GAGG scintillators as a scatterer and an absorber, we confirmed that the 3D configuration works well as a high-resolution gamma camera, and also works as spectrometer achieving typical energy resolution of 9.8% (FWHM) for 662 keV gamma rays. We present the current status of the prototype camera (weighting 1.5 kg and measuring 8.5×14×16 cm3 in size) being fabricated by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Although the camera still operates in non-DOI mode, angular resolution as high as 14° (FWHM) was achieved with an integration time of 30 s for the assumed hotspot described above.