145
Fast
Microcolumnar Scintillator for Radionuclide Imaging--Radiation
Monitoring Devices, Inc., 44 Hunt Street, Suite 200, Watertown, MA
02472-4699; 617-668-6800, www.rmdinc.com
Dr.
Vivek V. Nagarkar, Principal Investigator,
Dr.
Gerald Entine, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER84054
Amount:
$100,000
Despite
excellent scintillator properties and its use in a wide variety of applications,
CsI(Tl) has not been used for radionuclide imaging in medical applications.
The primary reason is the presence of a strong afterglow component in its
scintillation decay, which reduces the energy resolution.
Another reason is the absence of thick, pixelated scintillator
structures, which are needed to overcome the traditional tradeoff between
detection efficiency and spatial resolution, thereby allowing the full potential
of current imaging modalities (e.g., Scanning Photon Emission Tomography) to be
realized. This project addresses
these issues by using co-dopants capable of suppressing the afterglow of CsI(Tl)
and by developing thick microcolumnar scintillator structures.
As added benefits: (1) the
co-dopants are expected to enhance the prompt emission of CsI(Tl) without
sacrificing any of its excellent scintillation properties, and (2) the
microcolumnar structure will allow thick, high efficiency films to be fabricated
while maintaining very high spatial resolution.
Phase I will develop co-doped CsI(Tl) films of required geometry for
radionuclide imaging. Also, vapor
deposition protocols will be established for producing stoichiometrically
balanced, thick, microcolumnar films of the co-doped CsI(Tl).
The resulting scintillator structures will be characterized, and the
superiority of the approach will be demonstrated by comparing the data to that
obtained using other scintillators that are currently employed in radionuclide
imaging.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The modified scintillator should have widespread use in small
animal/human SPECT/CT imaging systems in particular, and nuclear medicine
systems in general. Additionally,
the readout sensor should have applications in high-speed and ultra-high-speed
x-ray imaging, nondestructive testing, and homeland security.