Systems and methods for time of flight positron emission tomography

A time of flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) system, comprising:

• a detector ring including a plurality of detector blocks, each detector block in the plurality of detector blocks including an array of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) devices, each SiPM device in the array coupled to one scintillation crystal of an array of scintillation crystals, wherein each crystal of the array of scintillation crystals is configured to emit Cherenkov light in response to interaction with a gamma ray;
• and
• readout electronics including a front-end readout circuit for each of SiPM devices in the array of SiPM devices, wherein the readout electronics are configured to readout signals of detected Cherenkov light.