Detector systems for radiation imaging
AssigneeMinnesota Imaging and Engineering LLC
InventorsRobert Sigurd Nelson, William Bert Nelson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Detector designs and systems for enhanced radiographic imaging with integrated detector systems incorporate one or more of Compton and nuclear medicine imaging, PET imaging and x-ray CT imaging capabilities. Detector designs employ one or more layers of detector modules comprised of edge-on or face-on detectors or a combination of edge-on and face-on detectors which may employ gas, scintillator, semiconductor, low temperature (such as Ge and superconductor) and structured detectors. Detectors may implement tracking capabilities and may operate in a non-coincidence or coincidence detection mode.
Claims30
An imaging apparatus comprising:
- a radiation imaging system comprising an array of detector modules configured to image a region of interest within an object, including:
- a front-end detector layer comprising a first array of radiation detector modules configured to image a region of interest within an object;
- a back-end detector layer comprising a second array of radiation detector modules configured to image the region of interest within the object;
- detector electronics configured for tracking incident photon interactions in the array of detector modules, including the first and second arrays of radiation detector modules using temporal and energy resolution techniques;
- and
- a communications link to a computer imaging system configured to image the region of interest within the object by processing readout data from the detector electronics wherein the detector modules have temporal and spatial resolution adapted for tracking the incident photon interactions at different penetration depths within the array;
- wherein the front-end and back-end detector layers have temporal and spatial resolution adapted for imaging the region of interest by tracking the interactions from at least one of an x-ray source and a gamma radiation source;
- and
- wherein at least one of the first and second arrays of detector modules includes at least one of an edge-on detector module, a structured detector module, and a 3D detector module;
- and
- wherein the detector modules comprise at least one of structured mold scintillator quantum dot or nanoparticle detector modules, structured mold semiconductor detector modules, structured mold semiconductor quantum dot or nanoparticle detector modules, and at least one such structured mold detector has a variable density defined by a number of holes and/or channels that changes as a function of penetration depth of the incident photons within the array.
A radiation imaging system comprising:
- an array of detector modules configured to image a region of interest within an object;
- detector electronics configured for tracking incident photon interactions in the array of detector modules;
- and
- a communications link to a computer imaging system configured to image the region of interest within the object by processing readout data from the detector electronics, wherein the detector modules have temporal and spatial resolution adapted for tracking the incident photon interactions at different penetration depths within the array,
- wherein the detector modules comprise at least one of structured mold scintillator quantum dot or nanoparticle detector modules, structured mold semiconductor detector modules, structured mold semiconductor quantum dot or nanoparticle detector modules, and at least one such structured mold detector has a variable density defined by a number of holes and/or channels that changes as a function of penetration depth of the incident photons within the array.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.