Lu1-xI3:Cex-a scintillator for gamma-ray spectroscopy and time-of-flight pet
AssigneeRadiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.
InventorKanai Shah
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Abstract
The present invention concerns very fast scintillator materials comprising lutetium iodide doped with Cerium (Lu1-xI3:Cex; LuI3:Ce). The LuI3 scintillator material has surprisingly good characteristics including high light output, high gamma-ray stopping efficiency, fast response, low cost, good proportionality, and minimal afterglow that the material is useful for gamma-ray spectroscopy, medical imaging, nuclear and high energy physics research, diffraction, non-destructive testing, nuclear treaty verification and safeguards, and geological exploration. The timing resolution of the scintillators of the present invention provide compositions capable of resolving the position of an annihilation event within a portion of a human body cross-section.
Claims37
A scintillator comprising lutetium iodide and a trivalent cerium dopant
A positron emission tomography scanner system comprising:
- a patient area;
- an assembly of radiation detectors disposed adjacent the patient area, wherein the radiation detectors comprise:
- a scintillator comprising lutetium iodide and a trivalent cerium dopant;
- a scintillation light detector or photomultiplier tube optically coupled to the scintillator;
- and
- a control system coupled to the light detectors or photomultiplier tubes.
An X-ray computed tomography scanner system comprising:
- a patient area;
- a penetrating X-ray source;
- and
- a detector assembly comprising a scintillator comprising lutetium iodide and a trivalent cerium dopant wherein said dopant is present at about 0.1% or more and less than or equal to about 100% by molar weight.
A method of performing time-of-flight positron emission tomography comprising:
- administering a patient with a detectable label;
- positioning the patient within a field of view of a scintillator to detect emissions from the patient, wherein the scintillator comprises lutetium iodide (LuI3) and trivalent cerium as a dopant.
A method of localizing a positron annihilation event within a portion of a human body cross-section which comprises using a positron emission tomography scanner system comprising a scintillator comprising lutetium iodide (LuI3) and trivalent cerium as a dopant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.