Autonomous gamma, X-ray, and particle detector

A scintillation detector module, comprising:

• a clock, configured to produce a clock signal representing a time;
• a plurality of scintillation elements, each scintillation element being responsive to emissions to produce scintillation events associated with a quantity of photons;
• a respective detector associated with each of the plurality of scintillation elements, configured to produce an electrical signal corresponding to the quantity of photons;
• wherein each respective scintillator element at least one of:
• is optically and electrically isolated from each other scintillator element in an array comprising the plurality of scintillation elements;
• and
• comprises a scintillation crystal, and each respective detector comprises a thin film photonic detector directly patterned on a surface of each respective scintillation crystal;
• at least one electronic circuit, configured to receive the electrical signal produced by each respective detector, and to produce a digitized output which preserves at least information comprising the quantity of photons;
• a digital memory, configured to store a plurality of records, each record comprising at least an identifier of a respective scintillation crystal, a time of a respective a respective emission and the information comprising the quantity of photons association with the respective emission;
• a digital communication interface, configured to communicate digital information packets through a shared addressable digital packet communication network;
• and
• an automated processor, configured to selectively process the information comprising the quantity of photons selectively in dependence on the quantity of photons for each respective scintillation event, transmit the stored plurality of records and receive control information through the digital communication interface.

A scintillation detection method comprising:

• providing a plurality of autonomous scintillation detectors surrounding a space, each autonomous scintillation detector comprising:
• a plurality of scintillator elements arranged in an array;
• a plurality of detectors, each respective detector being coupled to a respective scintillator element and being configured to selectively detect scintillation of the respective coupled scintillator element;
• wherein each respective scintillator element at least one of:
• is optically and electrically isolated from each other scintillator element of the array;
• and
• comprises a scintillation crystal, and each detector comprises a thin film photonic detector directly patterned on a surface of each respective scintillation crystal;
• a clock, configured to generate a clock signal having a resolution of less than or equal to 10 nS;
• circuitry coupled to each of the plurality of detectors and receiving the clock signal, configured to produce a detection event in response to excitation of a respective scintillator element, the detection event comprising a quantitative scintillation parameter and a time of detection;
• a memory;
• an interface to a shared addressable digital packet communication network;
• an automated processor configured to:
• store a plurality of records representing a plurality of detection events in the memory, each record comprising a respective detection event and an identification of a respective scintillation element associated with the respective detection event;
• process the stored plurality of records according to at least one filter criteria;
• transmit the stored records through the shared addressable digital packet communication network;
• and
• receive control information through the shared addressable digital packet communication network;
• and
• a housing configured to surround at least the plurality of scintillator elements, the plurality of detectors, the clock, the circuitry, the memory, and the automated processor;
• receiving the communicated digital information packets through the shared addressable digital packet communication network from plurality of autonomous scintillation detectors;
• transmitting control information through the shared addressable digital packet communication network to the plurality of autonomous scintillation detectors;
• determining, records corresponding to temporally coincident scintillation events from each of the scintillation detector module and the at least one additional scintillation detector module;
• and
• generating image information dependent on the determined records.